Meeting Jacob
by Bookworrmm512
Summary: Jacob imprints. It is from her point of view and Jacob is trying to fall out of love, while she is starting to wonder why she has fallen in love with an ass of a boy. Dont worry, Jacob comes around.
1. Serena

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"Where are you going?"I half-screamed at my brother as I watched him walk towards the street lights, away from the forest; our home.

"I told you, Serena." Tristen turned around, I could hear the frustration in his voice. "I'll come back, I promise."

Let me take a second to explain about myself and my family and home.

My brother was older than me-actually mostly everybody in my family was older than me. I have three sisters and one brother-including me-that equals five Yep, there are five of us. My brother was the oldest and I was the second youngest. Pretty big gap but nonetheless I was closer to him than any of my sisters. And I'm royalty. Well my whole family is actually. Maybe I should be more specific, I'm an elfin princess. WAIT! Don't leave, just keep reading, my story gets pretty cool. I'm not human even though I may look it, well mostly all the way. We lived deep in the forest, hidden. Our kingdom was made out of trees, so we blended in quite nicely. No elf has ever left the forest, except now, the most valuable elf in our kingdom; my brother.

Tristen started to walk away again, I knew that I was not going to win this fight, he was too stubborn.

"Fine, im coming with you." That did it. He stopped walking and whirled around, his blue eyes glaring at me.

"No." he commanded. The authority in his voice made me a little perturbed; I hate being told what to do. I glared right back with my violet eyes. Mine I must confess, a little bit more striking than his.

"You can't boss me around."I stated.

"Oh, can't I?"sarcasticness ringed throughout each word.

"No, you can't." I said sternly. "I'm coming." He looked like he was actually thinking about it, so I hurried and said something else. "Please," I begged. "I promise I won't be a nuisance." He laughed.

"Like that's possible."

"So, I can come?"Not that his answer mattered.

"I can't believe im saying this but, yea. But promise me you'll leave if I want you to."

"I can't make that promise till I know where we're going."He starred at me , annoyed. Than he turned around and started walking again. After a few strides, he turned only his head to the side.

"Are you coming?"he asked. I ran to catch up, as he started walking again.

"So?"

"So." His face was obviously annoyed that his younger sister was tailing along on his adventure.

"So?" I said a little more firmly. "Where are we going?"I asked for the third time.

"To La Push." by the tone in his voice, I knew that was all he was going to tell me. I started to notice it was really cold. The wind made my long-natural-curls flow everywhere.

Oh. Sorry stop again in the story. Well not really but let me tell you a description of myself, so your imagination will have something to work with: I'm short. Probably like 5'3. Sucks I know. My sisters are a little bit taller than me, but still I feel ridiculous. Tristen and I were both brunettes. Given to us by my father, he passed away a few years ago. Now it was only my mother ruling, which means my brother is soon to be King -which worried me a little. My father also had green eyes. My mother has blue eyes and cotton-white hair, which to my siblings dismay-no one got. To me, my mom was most beautiful creature in the world. Sometimes, I think she was born to be Queen. When she smiled, it would light up the whole kingdom. I haven't seen my mom smile since Dad died. She puts on a brave face, but we all know she is suffering inside. Danielle, my oldest sister, has reddish-brown hair (My family still wonders how she got that color hair) and green eyes. Emma, my other older sister, has dirty blonde hair (She was born with my mother's hair but as she got older my father's genes started to kick in. Poor her.) And green eyes. And last is my younger sister, Kay. Her hair was exactly the same as Danielle's(We still wonder.) And green eyes. My eyes are violet. My Dad use to tease my Mom and say she must have cheated on him with a red/brown haired, violet eyed woman. I am known in the kingdom as the oddball. I'm not as graceful as everybody else, I 'm quite clumsy. I'm plain-looking too, not ugly just plain. Well at least compared to my beautiful siblings. Another reason for oddity is when I was little, I never stayed home with my sisters. I always went with Tristen everywhere. I was always by his side, clinging to his arm. Even though we got strange looks at meetings and other royalty matters, my mother never complained, neither did Tristen, but my Dad had issues with the matter. He would always complain I was too young to be listening to all their conversations, but my mom told him I would grow out of it.

Of course I did, eventually.

I'am also gifted with magic, like the rest of my family, but my magic and power is greater than all of theirs put together. My brother was special at healing things mostly. Like scars, cuts, broke bones, etc.

"Serena?"Tristan's voice broke through my thoughts. I looked up at him, but he was no longer next to me. I turned around and he was standing five feet away in front of a house. I than realized we were in some sort of sub-division. "Where are you going?"he asked me, starring at me idiotically.

"Well, you could have stopped me." I pointed out to him.

"Nah, I wanted to see how far you would've gone without noticing, but you got too far." He said as I walked slowly back to him. I looked at the house we were standing in front of. It was big, blue house, with one big window covering the whole left side of the house. Even though I asked like a million times already, I had to ask again.

"What are we doing?"I had no hope of him giving me a straight answer, but than he didn't answer at all. I looked up at him again, his face was full of confusion. "Tristen?" He looked down at me.

"Okay. I'll tell you something that. . . . .well I've been. . . okay first you promise not to tell anybody. Not even mom, especially not mom. Okay?"

"Sure."

"Promise me." Again, it was a command.

"Fine, I promise." He grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me to the house right next door. We crouched down behind a bush, whcih I did not understand why this was necessary. "Tristen, what the-"

"Shh."He paused for a few seconds than started talking. "Do you know where I've been going these last few weeks?" I shook my head, a little hurt that he'd been keeping secrets from me. "Well, I've been coming here."

"You've been ditching me to hang out behind a bush!?!?"

"No, Serena. I mean to La Push."

"But why-" He put his hand out to stop me. I stared at him.

"Let me finish, than you can bombard me with questions. Okay? Now I've been coming to see someone. I don't know why, I kind of can't stay away from her." Tristen looked embarrassed at this, but I was too shocked at the key word 'her' to notice or care. "And I guess tonight, you are going to meet her." He stated while rolling his eyes. I was still unable to speak, the only words in my mind were not that nice, but it didn't matter when I opened my mouth.

"Are you insane! Tristen!" he didn't look shocked at my response. "She's human!"

"Actually, I never said she was human." I stared at him blankly.

_What is he playing at? Not human._

"What is she, Tristen? A werewolf? I hissed, sarcastically. Tristen did not answer, he just smiled a guilty smile. "Tristen!" I shrieked. "I was joking!"

"You're a good joker." I glared at him. "Okay. She kind of knows everything about us too." he mumbled, guilty again. I sighed in frustration.

"Wait, till I tell-"

"You promised."He said firmly, seriousness etched perfectly on his face. Crap! I did promise. I was going to complain some more, but than I saw the seriousness and went in a different direction.

"What's her name?" I asked, a little shocked at my calm voice. Tristen was shocked too, but still had a mask-like face on.

"Leah." He said through clenched teeth.

"Okay." I said as I hopped up. "Let's go see her." I climbed out of the bush and walked slowly away. I was, again, surprised at myself for how calm I was being. _Well, it's not like this was love or anything, just a crush. He would get over it pretty soon._ I told myself. It did not take Tristen long before he was in front of me , leading the way back to the blue house. We walked all the way to the door this time. Tristen looked at me with his eyebrows raised, than rang the doorbell. The door opened instantly, a tall-no!-_huge_ boy with sandy blonde hair, stood before me. Tristen nudged me, I realized I was starring at the sandy-haired boy with my mouth hanging open. I hurried-up and closed my mouth.

"Yes?" the boy asked, looking slightly annoyed at our presence. His annoyance made me more annoyed about this whole situation. I looked up at my brother, who was smiling.

"I came to see Leah." He said.

"May I tell her who is here?"the boy asked, again sounding annoyed. I was about to say something, but-

"Tristen and his sister, Serena." My brother replied curtly.

"Fine." He walked away from the door and yelled up the stairs as me and my brother walked into the house. "LEAH! Someone is here for you!" The boy glanced at Tristen one more time than walked into another room. I heard footsteps coming from the stairs, a girl, beautiful girl, ran down the stairs. Her eyes were hazel, her hair long and blonde. She skipped up to Tristen, stood on her tiptoes, and pecked him on the cheek. I turned to see my brother's expression. His eyes were locked on her only, he did not seem to notice I was there, neither did Leah. I was starting to rethink this whole crush thing. While they continued to stare at each other, I cleared my throat. Leah snapped out of it, her eyes flew to mine. Her face went from confusion to embarrassment. She blushed. I stepped up to her and smiled.

"Hello, I'm Serena. Tristen's sister." She smiled back.

"Hi, I'm Leah."

"I know." I pointed out. My brother was still looking at her, his eyes swimming with adoration. Maybe it was time for me to leave. "Well, I guess I'm going to go, I met you." I said nodding to Leah with a smile. " I'm sure I'll probably see you again. And maybe I'll come back alone."I continued nodding my head up at my brother. Leah followed my gaze and laughed. Tristen turned to me while I was stepping towards the street.

"You could stay for a while."

"Yea." Leah chimed in, looking truly genuine.

"Nah, I'm going hiking with Emma anyway. Nice to meet you, Leah."

"Yea, me too." Leah said, still embarrassed. I smiled than waved. I turned back around and started walking home. My mind was filled with one fact:_ My brother had fallen in love with a human.

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	2. Vampires and Wolves and Elves

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It took me a while to get back to the shelter of the trees. Once I was hidden from view, I decided I did not feel like walking all the way home on foot. So, I started to hum. Right when I was finished, my horse galloped into view. Her name was Cross. She was so black, her fur almost looked blue. Cross galloped to my side and nudged me playfully.

"Do you think I can have a ride back home?"I asked. Cross knelt down so both of her leg's knees were touching the ground. "Thanks."I climbed onto her back , my long, colorful skirt flowing down her back. She started to gallop at a normal pace, than she started at a slow run quickly gaining speed. As soon as I was starting to enjoy the ride, Cross stopped. _We were already at the creek?_ The creek is basically the line that divides our world from the humans' world. "Why did you stop?"I asked her. She just galloped in place. Then it occurred to me. "Oh! I'm sorry, Cross." I slid off her back. "I forgot."I felt guilty for forgetting; she was scared of water, silly horse. I watched as Cross walked back the way she had come. I than realized it was starting to get dark. Thinking my mom was probably getting worried, I hurried towards the creek and searched for the stepping stones that led back home. After two minutes, I found them. I was half-way across when something white flew across the water. It was just a white blur. I stopped in the middle of the creek, looking in all directions. I heard low chuckles coming from infront of me. I turned ahead, there were four white, beautiful faced men, standing on the otherside of the creek.

"Hello," a tall, black-haired man said to me. As he spoke, they all stepped closer to me, close enough for me to see their eyes. I gasped and stumbled backward on the rock. All four men's eyes were blood-shot red. They all chuckled at my reaction. Another black-haired man stepped up,

"Do you know where we can find a bite to eat?" They all laughed at this, I stood there motionless, not really understanding the joke. Before I could say anything, there was low growls coming from behind me. The growl was not what scared me, it was the fact that it was so close. I jumped, slipped of the small rock, and fell into the cold water. My head went under, but I quickly popped back up. I was all wet, dripping wet. Before I could even stand up in the knee-deep water,

"Impossible." I heard one of the men whisper. "I'm out of here," then there a white blur and only three men were visible. In the same second, something huge and silver whooshed past me following the white blur. I quickly stood up, dripping from head to toe. I stood facing the beautiful faces, my instincts telling me somehow the danger was ahead not behind.

"Coward," the first black-haired man said.

"Can't believe he would be scared of some wolves, not even a whole pack."the other black-haired man said.

"Well, more for us. I'm starving." the other said, smugly.

Wolves! I thought to myself, surely the thing I saw was much bigger than any wolf. I slowly turned around, I could not believe my eyes, it took me a while to adjust to what I was seeing. It was indeed a wolf, actually three of them: a black, a sandy-colored, and a light brown; all extremely huge. They were all taller than me. All three had their teeth bared. Any normal person would have been terrified at this sight, but I was an elf. Animals loved me. I hoped. But as I stared at this peculiar sight, something one of the beautiful creatures said had just sunk in. I flipped back around, they all had gotten closer, only a foot in front of me. They all had confusion on their striking faces.

"She's not human."the other one said.

"No. I'm not." I said calmly. I heard the wolves behind me growl.

"I'm starting to get annoyed with those animals. I say we eat them for the pleasure of it, than go get dessert." My face was filled with horror, than anger. As they began to walk past me, the growls started to become welcoming.

"Wait,"I put my hand up, stopping them. "I'm sorry." I said not sounding sorry at all, but disgusted. "In my forest, all animals are off-limits." They all snorted at this, amused.

"Little girl, I don't see you name on this forest." My anger flared.

"I'm warning you, come any closer and you'll be sorry." I warned. They all laughed.

"As if,"the black-haired said, as he quickly started to walk past me again, but I was quicker, just with the flick of my hand, he flew backwards. He hit a tree as he flew, the tree cracked in half and collapsed. I stared, awestruck. But I could not stare for long the other two came at me so fast, I only saw one. The brown wolf flew over my head, caught the man by the arm, and flew him into another tree, which collapsed. At the same second, I waved my hand and watched as the other beautiful creature hit the ground and created a crater. Then-too quickly-they were all before me again, snarls erupting from deep in their chests. The wolves were now on either side of m, snarling too. It took all my strength to pull my hands from over my ears to hold them out in front of me. I quickly concentrated on what I was about to do, than green jets of light flew from my hands and started circling around the three men, turning them slowly to ash. They did not have time to scream or look shocked, they just slowly disappeared. I was suddenly cold and exhausted. I probably should not have used that spell. Before I realized it, I was on my knees, back in the cold water. My eyes closed, I could feel sleep overpowering me, the last thing I felt was warm fur beneath me.


	3. The pack

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I woke up, groggily, not yet opening my eyes, just feeling. I realized I was laying down on something soft. I could tell pretty easily that my head was on a pillow, so my first guess was I was laying down on a bed. Well, the bed was warm, I snuggled myself deeper into the blankets. I did not want to get up, but my curiosity got the better of me. I let my eyes flutter open. My eyes took some time to adjust. I stared at the tan walls surrounding me. It took me a while to realize that I was not at home. The room was small with wooden floors and a big red rug in the middle. The one word I could use to describe this small room was _warmth_. Any normal person would probably once again be terrified of waking up in a place that was not familiar. But the room brought on a safe aroma, so I was not scared in the least, just curious. I jumped to my feet, now extremely curious to who my captures were. I walked to the wooden door, feeling the soft rug under my feet going in between my toes. I opened the door and I was blinded by light. I stumbled backward away from the sun. I heard someone laugh as I quickly shut the door. It took me a while to recollect myself. I braced myself as I tuned the knob again. The brightness was not as shocking this time, I could see a little clearer through it. I walked into what looked like a sitting room. Seven boys stood before me, all had amused faces on, well mostly all. One boy caught my attention, his face was twisted with confusion, hurtfulness, and almost _anger._ My eyes were locked to his, while his black eyes glared into mine. I'm guessing seeing the distress on my face, one of the boys stepped in front of me, blocking him from my view. He smiled down at me,

"Hello, I'm Sam. Sam Uley." I nodded slowly, still recovering from the glaring boy. I know I should have said 'hi' back, but now that one of them was so close, I could see his eyes. I knew that I saw those eyes before. He watched anxiously now, as my face went from confusion, to shock.

"Wow," I whispered. I had grabbed his face with both hands and pulled them closer to my face, so I could see if I was right. I was. I released the once black wolf and started looking for the light brown that helped me last night. The boy called Sam was watching me curiously, while I searched for the familiar eyes. My eyes quickly darted passed the still glaring boy. I found him. I walked up to the once light brown wolf, kissed him on the cheek, and said "thank you."

"Excuse me?"the boy before me looked shocked, but still amused, still smiling.

"Aren't you the one who stopped that horrible creature from coming at me?" I asked as I felt my head tilt to one side.

"Yea, I guess I was." he replied smugly. "How did you know that?"

"Your eyes." I stated, motioning to them. "And," I turned to look for the sandy wolf. I saw him, he was the youngest, I could tell, but that was not what had me rooted. "Hey," I said while pointing at him. "You're the boy at Leah's house - and the wolf." He nodded smiling.

"Yep, that's me and its my house too." I stared at him, confused. "Its my house too. Leah is my big sister."

"Oh." I looked around at them all, again skipping that one boy. "So, you guys are all wolves." It was not a question, I knew the answer.

"Yes," Sam told me. I was amazed.

"Wow," I whispered again, smiling in astonishment.

"How did you know so quickly?" Sam asked.

"I told you. Your eyes give you away."

"Ah." Sam nodded, thinking. "Well, I guess I should introduce you to all of us." He gestured to the six boys standing before me. "Guys, stand in a line please." They all obediently stood in a line. He gestured to the boy at the beginning of the left end. "This is Paul," Paul was, actually, they all basically looked the same: black hair, same hugeness, same copper skin. I waved up at Paul. "Paul was with us too, but he started chasing the vampire that ran away." I nodded gratified, than something Sam said had me confused.

"Excuse me? Vampire?" I asked, looking up at him, silently questioning his sanity.

"Yes, they exist." His voice was now strained, but still friendly.

"But I thought vampires weren't real and besides that, I also thought vampires were suppose. . .to be - you know, scary and ugly and - " I held out my hands, curling my fingers and hissed. They all started laughing. I was shocked. "But they didn't even have fangs," I continued exasperated, trying to convince them; vampires do not exist.

"No they didn't, but they exist." Sam told me.

"But that doesn't make any sense at all," I challenged.

"Okay, what saved you last night?" Sam challenged back.

"You did."

"No, I said _what_ saved you last night." I was starting to get more confused. I folded my arms in frustration.

"I. . . " Than I realized, "oh, wolves."

"You still don't understand, do you?" He asked, looking at me like I was retarded. I was starting to get defensive, so I just shook my head. He smiled. "Being saved by werewolves doesn't make any sense either. But it happened."

"So, what's your point?"

"My point is that things that make sense really don't apply to this conversation. Vampires exist." I must have had a funny expression on my face because a few of them started laughing. "Did you know they don't even sleep in coffins?" he asked me, probably mocking my shocked expression.

"No!" I said, astounded. They all started laughing again. I finally understood why they were laughing. "Hey! That's not fair! I didn't even know they existed!" I said, trying to defend myself. Sam was the first to stop, but still lightly chuckling. " So, no coffins?"

"Nope."

"Does the sun hurt them?"

"No."

"What about turning into bats?"

"Nope."

"Oh," I said, kind of disappointed.

"But, they are as hard as stone, actually they're like walking ice."

"Really?" My disappointment was fading slightly.

"Yea, they're extremely strong too." Paul added . I knew they were all watching for the excitement to take over again. Well, all except the boy who glared at me. He did not laugh like the others, just stood there. I stared at him again, examining his beautiful-smooth looking face. His eyes flickered to mine, I quickly looked away and back at Sam.

"Okay, all excitement gone." I assured him. "Wow. Finding out werewolves and _vampires_ exist in one day. Amazing." They chuckled again. I turned to look at the boy next to Paul.

"Hey, I'm Embry." the boy said. His hair was way shorter than the others, almost bald.

"Hi, Embry." I smiled up at him. My neck was starting to hurt. Sam walked up beside me, he motioned next to Embry,

"This is Quil." he said.

"Hello, Quil."

"Hey!" Quil said cheerfully. I smiled. _Quil. What a funny name._ I suppressed a giggle. I did not bother turning to the boy next to Quil because I was a little frightened. Sam seemed to have noticed and gave the boy a meaningful look. I looked at him.

"And this is Jacob." Jacob turned to me - but did not actually look at me - and nodded. He than turned around so his back was facing me, jumped over a red couch, and went to the front door. He did not even look back, just opened the door and slammed it behind him. Probaly trying to direct my attention, Sam continued. "This is Seth and Jared." he gestured to each. Seth was Leah's brother, only one with sandy hair. Jared was the one I kissed on the cheek. I smiled at both, but Jacob still had me shocked and confused. Two emotions I felt a lot throughout this whole ordeal.

"What was his problem?" I demanded, they knew who I was referring to.

"Don't worry, he'll come around." Embry assured me. A few minutes passed with everybody looking at the door. "He has to get hungry eventually." Embry added. I did not know what to make of that last comment.


	4. Dinner

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Embry turned to me,

"Now, who are you and _what_ are you?"he said firmly.

"Oh, um. . .my name is Serena and I don't understand your last question." I said quietly.

"Okay. . . we all know your not human," he pressed.

"Oh, that." All of there eyes were on mine, they were all leaning in curiously. "I'm an elf,"I mumbled, hoping they missed it, but nope. In one second, they were on the wooden floor, laughing! "I'm serious!" My anger and annoyance ringing out. Jared stood up slowly, still laughing.

"I thought elves made toys at the north pole." he said, trying to prove me wrong.

"Well, I thought vampires slept in coffins." I said indignantly. In a few minutes, they stood up, all quiet, but every now and then I heard a low chuckle.

'Now seriously, what are you?"Embry asked again.

"I'm an Elf!" I said through clenched teeth.

"Yea. Right." Quil said as Jared walked up to me and put a curl behind my ear.

"Your ears! They're pointed!"he exclaimed. Embry, Paul , and Quil shuffled over to examine my ears. I started to feel self-conscious. Embry kept thrumming my ear-tip with his index finger. I thought after a while that he would stop, but he didn't.

"Hey! Stop that!" I said while waving my hand at him.

"Awesome," I heard Quil say.

"Oh, sorry." Embry said sheepishly. Minutes passed as they all discussed me being an elf. They were all pretty shocked. Embry detached himself from the group of people and walked towards the kitchen- I assumed-and sat on one of the stools that was surrounding the big marble counter. "When's Emily coming home, I'm starving." he stated.

"Emily?" I asked.

"Yea, Sam's wife. She's great!" Said Paul, following Embry and sitting sown on another stool. Everything was slowly sinking into my brain, than I remembered I had a family, who are probably worried and looking for me, but maybe Seth told Leah I was here, who told Tristan, who told my mother. But that was just a maybe.

"Hey, Seth?" Seth looked at me, waiting. "Did you tell Leah that I was here?"

"Uh. No. She didn't come home last night."He said with a shrug.

"Your not worried about that?"I asked, instantly thinking about my brother.

"Not really, she's been doing it a lot lately. But she comes back the next day. I'd just like to know where she goes." He shrugged again, like it wasn't that important.

"I think I should go home, just to let my mother know I'm alive." I mumbled, more to myself.

"Yea, you probably should." Sam responded, suddenly serious.

"No! Wait! You have to meet Emily first!" Embry had jumped up from the stool, with his arms outstretched in front of him. As if to grab me, if I ran. I laughed at his pleading face,

"Sure." I said hesitantly. I mean how much more trouble could I get into? Okay, probably a lot more, but the longer I stayed the longer I had time to think of a cover-up story to save my ass. I looked up at Sam,

"Yea, meet Emily than go home." Sam answered. I smiled, Embry sat back down on the stool, and I started to look around the small house. It had a warm, safe feeling to it. I liked it here, a lot. I was pretty sure that I did not want to leave. Soon, all the men clambered out of their ring around me and moved to different places. Embry, Paul, and Seth were sitting at the kitchen counter, staring at the stove as if their concentration might make food appear. Sam was sitting on a big chair that had cushions plastered on to it. He was rocking back and forth. Jared and Quil were on the couch arguing about who's feet went where. I could identify mostly every item in the house - elves use mostly the same stuff as humans, some of their stuff, we think is pretty cool - except this big black-shaped box.

"Small isn't it?" Sam asked me.

"Yea, but I like it. It makes me all fuzzy inside." I explained. I heard chuckles all around. My thoughts wandered back to the black box. "What's that?" I asked, pointing to it. Six pairs of eyes flew to me, all looking at me idiotically. "What?" I asked innocently.

"Wow,"I heard Paul mutter.

"You don't get out much, do you elf?" Jared asked, laughing. I was utterly confused.

"It's a T.V." Sam explained. "It entertains you." he continued. I nodded still confused but moved on to look at other things. They all watched as I walked towards some pictures on a mantel piece. I examined them, tracing the designs on the picture frames. In one picture there was a girl, who had long dark hair. She was gorgeous, I was stunned. She smiled at me through the picture.

"Is this Emily?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Yes," It was, of course, Sam who answered.

"She's very pretty, Sam." I said, approvingly. He laughed and shook his head, almost in sadness. I didn't understand why.

"I know." He whispered. I continued looking, their eyes never leaving me, watching curiously. I walked towards the kitchen and stood on the opposite side of Embry, Seth, and Paul. There were no stools on my side. I was about to ask another question, when Sam jumped up and went to stand in front of -I was guessing- the front door. He stood there, rocking back and forth on his heels, for a few moments, than quickly opened the door to a girl, who was carrying two bags full of food. I knew exactly who she was from the picture, but she looked different. There were scars all along the right -side of her face. I had to look away to stop my face forming into horror. I kept my head down, staring at the different colors of the kitchen floor. I heard and felt a bunch of thuds vibrating from the floor. At first, I thought it was an earthquake, but I looked up- it was Jared jumping up and down. I stared at his energetic-self. I caught Sam mumbling something into his Emily's good ear. Her good eye darted around the small house, searching. She found me, standing awkwardly behind the kitchen counter. My eyes only focusing on the beautiful side of her face. She beamed at me.

"Hi, I'm Emily." She said as she made her way to the kitchen, "You finally woke up. I went to the store to buy some stuff to cook. I wasn't sure if you were going to be hungry or not, but I went to the store anyway," Emily was already bustling around her small kitchen, pulling out bowls and pans. She was turning on the stove. "Just in case," she added. She started getting water from the sink. I moved around the stone counter to keep out of her way, but than Embry, Sam, and Jared were putting bags and bags of food on the counter. I did not even notice they left the room, or the house. Paul was leaning over the counter asking questions left and right at Emily. I only caught some of it, words like: hungry, food, and ready.

"That's it Emily!" Sam called from the red door leading outside. I glanced back at the moving girl behind the counter. I could see her perfectly, putting something into a big black pot. It took me a while to notice what was missing from this scene. The bags were all gone! I realized this as I saw Paul scrunch up one of the bags into a ball, his face looking smug, and throw it into a trash can. My eyes were bulging at the clean counter. I tried to process in my head the time to unload bags full of food and the time it had taken me to glance at Sam. It was not making sense. I continued to stare at the counter. Paul glanced at me and laughed.

"You okay, elf?" He asked.

"Of course she is, we're about to eat." I heard Quil's voice come from behind me. I turned and once again my eyes bulged, they were all sitting at the dining room table, some chairs added to the set. I did not even hear the chairs move. Sam rolled his eyes at Quil.

"Wha. . . how. . . you. . . there. . ." I turned back to gesture at the counter. "Huh!"I spluttered. I tried again to process how I had not heard anything. Maybe it was the fact I was concentrating on the counter to hard. Yea. That had to be it.

"Serena, come sit." Embry said eagerly, gesturing to the empty seat next to him.

"S-Sure." I said, still disoriented.

"Stop scaring the poor girl." Emily scolded them.

"What? It's not our fault we're extremely gifted." Paul argued.

"Oh. Yes, 'gifted' is the perfect word for it." Emily replied as she stirred whatever was in the pot, her back towards us. It went on like this for at least twenty more minutes, everybody was laughing, making jokes, and they would ask me questions every-so-often. I felt welcome here, it was just so easy to talk and joke with these people. At last, Emily announced,

"Dinner is ready." She came to the table with a bowl of soup, sat down, and started eating. All the man in the room stared at her with confused faces. I put a hand over my mouth so I wouldn't laugh out loud. Embry, noticing my struggle, snapped out of it,

"What about us, Emily?"

"Yea,"Seth urged. Emily looked up and laughed

"You guys are big boys, aren't you? Get it yourself." Emily said. Sam was the first to obey. He got up and nudged Emily playfully in the head as he passed her. Paul jumped up after Sam.

"Psh. Fine." Paul walked after Sam. Soon they all filed in a line around the counter, each fixing their plates with food. Emily glanced at me, still seated at the empty table with her. She winked at me and mouthed,

"Watch this." when they were all seated back at the table, Emily turned to me smiling, "oh, Serena, darling. Would you mind if I fixed you a bowl of soup?" She asked, formally. It took a lot of effort to keep from laughing,

"What!?!?" Paul shouted. Knowing I should play along, ignoring Paul, I said

"Why, that would be so kind of you, Emily." I mocked her formal speech. Emily got up from the table, taking her soup bowl with her. Everybody watched her with annoyed expressions, except Sam. He was grinning smugly, his eyes filled with admiration as he watched his wife. I smiled at this.

"So, what's with you and that guy at my house yesterday?" Seth asked. It took me a while to realize he was talking to me.

"Oh, um, my brother wanted me to meet Leah." Emily came to put a bowl of soup in front of me, but something confused me; Emily, all of a sudden, looked uncomfortable.

"Why?" Seth asked. I watched as Emily sat back down at the table. I turned back to Seth,

"You don't know?"

"Know what?" Everybody was staring at me intently, Emily's head was down, avoiding people's eyes.

"That my brother and Leah- I think- are together."

"What do you mean 'together'."Seth asked.

"Like boyfriend-girlfriend 'together'." I said.

"Leah has a boyfriend?" Jared asked, shocked.

"Haha, Leah has a boyfriend." snickered Embry.

"Is that why she's been avoiding us for three weeks?" Quil asked. "Because she _has a boyfriend_?!" Quil nearly shouted. "I wonder how she's been dealing with her temper and not phasing?" he asked, more to himself.

"Maybe her fantasies about her new _boyfriend_ were too bad for us to see." Embry stated. Every man was silent, probably thinking about those fantasies.

"Ugh!" Paul shouted, breaking out of his reverie. "Maybe it's a good thing she hasn't been phasing!"

"Wait, guys, do you think Leah imprinted?" Jared asked. All the men looked like they were thinking this through, I was confused, and Emily started fidgeting. Sam finally noticed her discomfort.

"Emily?" he asked, accusingly. Emily's attention was drawn to her nails.

"Yea?"

"What do you know?" Emily met his eyes with a sweet smile.

"Nothing." she said, keeping the smile. Sam raised his eyebrows, staring at her.

"Yea, Em. What's been going on with Leah?" Quil asked.

"Its's not right to keep secrets." embry stated. Emily responded to that.

"I'am not keeping secrets!" She looked at Sam when she said it, "I'm not, really. Leah just didn't want anybody to know until she was ready."

"Than why'd she tell you?" Seth shot at her. Emily turned her face away from Sam to Seth.

"Really, Seth. I should not _even_ have to answer that question." Well, so far into the conversation I was extremely lost.

"So. . . she did imprint?" Paul asked Emily.

"Yes."

"I still don't understand why she didn't tell us."

"I do. Who wants to admit they imprinted on an elf?" Jared said. At the same time, all of their heads turned toward me, staring. I don't even know how to describe it, it was just. . . weird. I wondered how I looked to their peering eyes, sitting at the far-end of the table, looking like a midget sitting next to Embry with wide eyes. The moment felt like it lasted a very long time, but it was only two seconds until Emily quickly broke the awkward stare.

"That's not it."she said hastily, but I could tell as soon as the words were out her mouth, she wanted them back. Okay. Well, now I was not the only one confused. I decided that I was going to have a serious discussion with my brother when I got home.

"Well, what is it?" Sam asked.

"I can't tell you," Emily looked very hurt by this fact, so did Sam. "But you'll find out, it's not like you'll never know." Emily was looking at Sam with one pleading eye. After a while she added, "It's not my secret to tell." Sam sighed and shook his head.

"Wow, two imprints in one month, that's got to be some werewolf record." Quil stated.

"I say we call her and tell her to come to Emily's" Embry said, ignoring Quil.

"Haha, Leah isn't that dumb." Paul said. Ugh! My being lost had a limit, you know.

"Will somebody _please_ explain to me, what's going on!" I exclaimed. Embry jumped from my sudden outburst.

"Okay. I'll keep it simple, elf." I was starting to think this was my new nickname. "Leah Imprinted on your brother." Paul told me from across the table. He looked smug about his small explanation, he folded his hands on the table. Signaling that was all I needed. I stared at him like he was retarded.

"What?" Paul asked.

"She doesn't know what imprint means, you idiot." Embry told him, as Sam hit Paul in the back of the head.

"Oh, my bad." Paul said as he held up his palms in defense. Another silence came upon all of them, when they did not say anything else, I said something.

" Well. . ." I said, while I waved my hands in a go-on gesture. There was a chorus of 'ohs' and 'sorrys'. Jared turned to me this time,

"Imprint means, well, basically, if a werewolf imprints, it means he fell in love- completely. He - well in this case - _she_ has to love him or her and can't love anybody else. Whoever they imprint on is the center of their world. You can't help it."

"So. . . Leah can only love my brother?" I asked.

"Exactly."

"Wait, does the person they imprint on have to love them too?" Sam answered me,

"No, but they usually _always_ do. You find your soul mate. The bond works both ways." I noticed as he said this, he grabbed Emily's hand.

"Oh." well, this was big-very big. Tristan's soul mate was a werewolf. Oh, boy I wonder how my mother is going to take this when she finds out. Better yet, how is the _kingdom_ going to take this when a human sits on our throne. My people were not prejudice against humans, but a human and an elf have never fallen in love before. But what if something goes wrong, like they do not accept Tristan and Leah and they plan to runaway or -

Embry's thoughts had interrupted my own,

"You know, guys, I've been wondering what happens if one of us turns gay and we imprint on a guy? Wouldn't that be weird? Like, I mean if we didn't realize we were gay yet, but than we imprinted on a guy?" Everything was silent for a moment as we all stared at Embry. After a while, I could not help it. I laughed - _hard._ Emily stared laughing too. Quil was shaking his head slowly,

"Only you, Embry, only you." he said.

"_You're _an idiot. " Paul added.

"What kind of question is that?" asked Seth, than he raised his eyebrows at Embry. "Is there something you need to share with us, Embry?"

"The only thing I have to say about that is, thank _heavens_ I've already imprinted." Jared said, laughing.

"I agree." Sam added. When I stopped laughing, I turned to Jared,

"You imprinted?" I asked Jared and not Sam because I knew what Sam's answer would be. It was pretty obvious now. Jared nodded

"Yea, I did." he marveled.

"Aw," I said. "What's her name?"

"Kim." I saw his eyes light up when he said it.

"You know all this imprint talk is reminding me that Claire is coming home soon and me _and_ Embry need to go clean the house," Quil said standing up. Emily laughed.

"Aww, Quil. Did you imprint too?"

"Yep." he said with a smile as he brought his plate around the counter and into the sink. Embry started complaining, saying it was _Quil's_ mess and it was _Quil's_ imprintee. While they argued about cleaning, I wondered what it would be like to have a guy imprint on you, or have a werewolf has a boyfriend. I guess it would be cool to have a guy_ have_ to only love you and you alone. Or it would be cool to have a huge boyfriend, who could turn into your own personal puppy. During my thoughts, my mind came across one word that stuck. Jacob. I don't know why it stuck, but it just did. Than trying to divert my mind from even thinking about him, I came up with another word. Home. Shit! I needed to get home. I started to panic.

"What time is it?" I asked quickly, interrupting Embry and Quil's argument.

"5:30." Emily told me.

"5:30!" I jumped up from the table with wild eyes, "I need to get home!" I exclaimed. Behind the panic was disappointment, if I left I probably would not see my new friends again. I loved being with these people. I felt comfortable and safe around them. I felt my face form into a frown as 1 went to say goodbye. But before I could move towards the red door, Sam spoke up,

"Wait. We need to talk about the whole Leah imprinted situation. Leak _is_" He looked at Emily when he said it. "Going to come over tomorrow for dinner." he looked back at me. "And I'm going to invite your brother. Only if you want, I really believe you should be here too." Sam finished his invitation and I felt my frown turn into a grin, but I could not help asking,

"Me?" I did not see me in this equation at all.

"Yea. You should come." he insisted. Emily smiled from beside him. Embry walked up beside me, his height engulfing me.

"Come on, elf. Please?" Embry begged. I smiled.

"Okay." I said. "I'll tell my brother." "If he's home." I added. Sam laughed.

"Yes!" Embry looped his arm through mine, spun me around so my back was facing everybody, and pulled me to the door. I turned to say bye, but Quil was right behind us. So, I pretty much could not see anybody because of his hugeness.

"Bye!" I yelled. I heard a chorus of 'byes'. My smile got bigger as I realized I was coming back.


	5. Homecoming

**chapter 5! Enjoy! Reviews are greatly appreciated. (:**

* * *

I got home late, I also had no idea what time it was. Everybody was probably asleep. I was guessing this on how bazaarly quite it was. I was safely inside, already passed the royal guards, I'm pretty positive that they did not see me. I walked as lightly as I could down the dark hallway, heading towards my room. My slippers tapping against the marble floor was the only noise available to my ears. I was certain I was going to make it, I even saw my bedroom door, but of course all dreams had to end. Some one tapped me on the arm. I screamed. Whoever tapped me whipped me around to face them, while saying,

"Shooosh!"

"Elvin!" I screamed as I looked up at Danielle's boyfriend, his red hair flying out in all directions. He looked annoyed and frustrated, just like always.

"Damn, Serena! Shut-up!" He quickly pulled me through the first door he saw. We ended up in one of the many sitting rooms - well in this case as I looked around - a storage room for numerous amounts of paintings. As soon as he shut the door, he gave me a hug. Wow. Elvin giving me a hug? Maybe my one night away from home scared a lot of people.

"Are you. . . ._hugging_ me?" I wondered how many hugs I would get for my 'return' home. He answered my question by rolling his eyes. Elvin was training to be a royal guard - protecting the royal family. It was the only way a royal could be with other elves, if they became basically anything with the word 'royal' in the job title. Of course we had other royal families, but they were rarely seen, somewhere ruling their own kingdoms. "Elvin, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to wake anybody up." I whispered, thinking back to my scream.

"Wake people up?" he asked, also whispering.

"Yea? Isn't everybody asleep?" I asked. Elvin laughed,

"Serena, our princess has been missing all day and night," he paused, noticing I was not comprehending, he continued, "Everybody is out looking for you."

"Oh." I said, returning my voice to its regular volume.

"I just got back with one of the searching parties led by Tristan."

"Tristan!" I squeaked, "When did he get back?" Elvin's face returned to its normal annoyed look.

"I just told you, a few minutes ago!"

"No! Not from that! Like yesterday, when did he come home?" Elvin's blue eyes squinted down at me,

"Oh! He came back this morning. Your mom chewed his ass out when she found out you were with him. Where were you anyway?" Ignoring his question,

"How'd she find out?"

"Tristan accidentally let it slip out that he let you walk home alone. . .at night," I was about to interrupt when he started up again. "He's been beating himself up for it all day." I saw Elvin's eyes ignite with curiosity and I knew what was coming.

"Hold on. I've got one more question." I quickly thought of something that might distract him. He waited and I smiled up at him, "why are we in a random, dark, sitting room?" He looked startled by the question, but answered none the less.

"Because someone was bound to come check the hall after you screamed," -he paused- "and find you." Now I was the one squinting,

"But wouldn't finding me have been a good thing." I stated. He laughed as he went to open the door,

"Yea, but I wanted to hug you before you got turned to chopped elf." I wanted to laugh, but all that came out was a slightly-strangled sound. He was right. I was dead. This made Elvin laugh louder. "Come on, Serena." he gestured for me to follow him out into the hall. "I'm sure she won't kill you." He reassured me. Once in the now brightly lit hall, I started to panic.

'Ugh! What am I going to do! I have no idea what I'm going to tell her!" I paced through the hall trying to make up a story. Elvin looked amused at my predicament,

"Don't know. Don't really care." He stated as he started to walk away.

"Wait! You have to help me!" I yelled at him. He turned, but now walking backwards,

"I'm truly sorry I can't help." he said sarcastically. "I'll let you announce your return for yourself. I'm really going to miss you." he chuckled. He, than, stopped and mockingly bowed, "Goodnight, Princess." He put his back towards me,

"Jerk!" I screamed as loud as I could. Elvin laughed, hard. His laughter echoing off the pearl ceiling and walls. I folded my arms in frustration. I was starting to picture hitting Elvin in the head with a stick, when I got an idea,

"Elvin!" I screamed, he was almost to the end of the hallway, about ready to turn down the other long corridor.

"What!" he screamed back.

"Where's Tristan?" I shouted. I saw Elvin sigh and than gestured me to follow with his hand. I hurried down the hall towards him, he started walking before I even reached him. I finally caught up with him after he was half-way down the other huge hall. "Thanks for waiting." I said, out-of-breath.

"No problem." he said, cheerfully. He stopped when we reached an intersection. To my left was wooden stairs going down, than to my right was wooden stairs going up.

"He's up there in your father's study." Elvin told me, while pointing to my right.

"Thanks." I said quickly, I got half-way up when I heard Elvin's voice,

"Hey! Princess!" I turned to look down at him, "Don't tell anybody about me hugging you, okay?"

"Why?" He smirked,

"I have a reputation to protect." He stated.

"Oh? And what reputation is that, exactly?

"Elvin Sprite has no soft side. Not to anybody." He stated proudly. I laughed.

"Except for Danielle?" I asked, his eyes got big, than his face settled down to calm and he smiled,

"Yea. Except for Danielle." And with that he started walking up the hallway and I raced up the stairs. I flew the door open to my father's study, three men with shocked expressions stood before me, one was my brother, the other two were royal guards, I didn't recognize them, but that was not my biggest issue at the moment.

"If you tell anybody I am here, I will hunt both of you down and put a curse on each of your rooms." I said to the guards, hoping my voice didn't waver. "You are dismissed." They quickly bowed and darted out of the room with frightened faces. I looked over at my brother, his blue eyes seemed like they were glowing, while he stood beside the lit fire place. The only other light issuing from the room was an oil lamp, which only made the small study more menacing with it's crimson colored walls and perfectly designed rug. This place always gave me goose bumps, but when my father was here he always made the room bearable. Now he was gone. And this place made me easily distraught and scared. Tristan walked hastily over, gave me a hug, and kissed me on my head.

"Where have you been?" he demanded, shaking me lightly. "I let you walk home by yourself, thinking what trouble could my _extremely_ powerful baby sister get into! And than as if to prove me wrong, I get home this morning and _your not here!"_ He was gripping my upper arms so hard. I was going to have a bruise on them. "Where have you been?" he asked again.

"U mm. . . hanging out with a bunch of werewolves." I said hesitantly. He was glaring at me, but when I answered his face shifted. He squinted down at me,

"What?" I was suddenly mad, and hurt at the fact I had to find out about Leah from other people instead of him. I wanted to make him squirm.

"You know, your _soulmate's_ friends." He flinched at the word and stepped away from me falling into a nearby chair.

"You know about that?" he asked, looking awkward. I glared at him.

"How could you keep something like this from me?" I demanded, folding my arms in frustration as I walked over to stand in front of him. "How do you even expect it to work? You are immortal and she is mortal. Tell me how you plan to work that out as future king?" he flinched again, I knew my voice was rising, but I couldn't care less if anybody heard me.

"Just because you are my sister, does not mean I have to tell you every detail of my life." he spat. That hurt. I felt my eyes water and I quickly turned away from him, walking towards the door. But before I got to it, he grabbed my arm. "Where are you going?" his voice sounding slightly annoyed.

"I'm going to tell Mom how much of a jerk you are for leaving me alone in the woods." I knew that was not true, but my mom didn't

"She already thinks that." I made a face at him and started walking back to the door as two tears slipped out, but he grabbed my arm again,

"Okay. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." He pulled me around so I was standing in front of him again. "Come on, Serena. Calm down. I have a plan for Leah. . . and Mom."

"No." I argued as I wiped my hand over my face, getting rid of the traitor tears.

"I should've told you about Leah. . . but I was scared." He smiled up at me, "Forgive me? Please." The smile formed into a fake pout, I laughed.

"Fine." I said, folding my arms again. He smiled.

"So. . .while I was here getting yelled at for losing my sister. . . you've been hanging out with werewolves?" I nodded. "May I ask how you even came to meet them." I sighed.

"It's a long story." he started shaking his head,

"No, you're not getting out of this and seeing as you and me," he gestured to me to him with his hand, "we're immortal, . . . .which means we have _all _the time in the world to listen to long stories." he finished with a smirk. I gave him an aggregated look, pulling my arm free from his grasp.

"Come on, Tristan. We have Mom to deal with. Later, okay?" He started shaking his head agin.

"No. Now." I let out a frustrated sigh, I really did not feel like telling him what happened. I kind of did not like reliving things, only if it was important. This was not important. With another aggregated sigh, I told him about the vampires, the werewolves, and me going into unconscienceness than being brought to Sam's house. Tristan's expressions throughout my story was mostly anger, than relief, than back to anger. He was not surprised like I was when I heard the word 'vampire' but than understanding kicked in,

"Leah told you about vampires, right?" He smirked up at me,

"Yea, she did." He said with a laugh, than his face became serious. "I don't want you walking in the woods anymore. . . . alone. . . . for a while." He must have seen the expression I could feel forming on my face because he quickly changed the last part of his weak command. I was not happy.

"Take it back." I demanded, nobody liked to see me when I was mad, I have a really bad temper, random things set me off. When this happened I usually got my way. Even Tristan didn't argue with me. You could say I have tantrums. . .with remarkable power, but hey I'm a princess. I can't help it. Tristan stared up at me with a sheepish grin. "Take it back!" I said more loudly. Even when I tried to deny it, to ignore it, even when my temper let me get my way, Tristan's commands were above mine or anyone's for that matter. If he decided to tell mom about the vampires and what he thought was best for me, she would with no hesitation agree. Whatever I thought before, even though sometimes my reign was higher than Tristan's because of my power, but mot my Mom's. Not the Queen's. What she says goes, no matter how bad her daughter's tantrums were. I noticed Tristan stand up and tower over me, expression firm. I started to panic, imagining forever trapped in the wooden castle's vine walls. My eyes grew wide with fear, I think I started hyperventilating. Fear replaced anger.

"Serena! Serena! Calm down!" Tristan was gripping my upper arms again, shaking me. I started shaking my head up at him,

"Don't." I took a deep breath. "Don't tell Mom." I think he realized why my mood suddenly shifted because he started laughing. "You think this is funny?" I screamed at him, finally releasing my breath. "You think being locked up for all eternity is. . . . FUNNY?" I slapped him on the arm.

"No," He gasped, shaking his head back and forth, while laughing. Putting out his arms in case I hit him again. "It's just. . . . your face. . . .staying inside for a little while can't be _that_ bad."

"Yes it can! It so definitely can!" Tristan stopped laughing, but still smiling.

"Calm down, Serena. I promise I won't tell mom, but please stay out of the woods for a while, in case I come with you. Okay?" He asked, his eye pleading. I nodded , stiffly. He let out a sigh of relief, probably thinking a fight might occur. "Come on. Let's go see Mother."


	6. Temper and Rebellion

My anxiety slowly evaporated as my brother and I made our way towards the Queen's rooms. We finally came to an archway where two guards stood on either side. Their eyes widened when they saw me, but other than that nobody said a word. We passed through into the banquet hall. The room was large, no probably bigger than any word to describe how big a room was. The moon was bright through the glass ceiling making the shadows of plants, chairs, columns, and tables lurk on the marble floor. If a little girl and her sisters were to lay down on their backs in the middle of the hall and look up, they would see the stars shining back down on them. But of course there was no more time to look up at stars with one's sisters because everyone was always to busy to care. I sighed as Tristan turned to the right, heading towards another archway, but smaller than the first. This led to stairs spiraling upwards to the next floor. When we reached the top, we were met by two more guards, one young and one old, standing on either side of an enormous wooden door. Beautiful vine carvings wove around the door as if they were real and alive. The young guard smiled when I met his gaze,

"Hello Ravi." His smile widened.

"Good Evening, Princess." his gaze shifted to Tristan. "And Prince Tristan." he added. Tristan turned to regard Ravi than quickly turned to the old guard.

"Is mother asleep yet?" he asked, his voice sounding hopeful. I smothered a laugh. The old elf snorted,

"She has been pacing for the past hour. I believe she is no where near sleep." The old guard turned to look at me with piercing eyes, "you should be ashamed, Serena." he added. I looked to the floor and nodded. Shame slowly making its way to my face.

"I know, Keinon." I said to the floor. Keinon opened the door quietly and as I slipped passed with Tristan, Ravi gave me a sympathetic smile. Right when I stepped through and heard the door close, I shut my eyes, held my breath and waited for the explosion. But it never happened. I let out the breath and opened my eyes.

My mother was no where to be found. . . . in the front room. Tristan had walked to the middle of the room slowly leaning forward to peer into an open door. I quickly walked to the open door, took yet another deep breath, and walked through. It didn't take me long to locate her in the bedroom. She was perched on the edge of her bed looking off into space. She was still fully dressed in one of her gowns - blue lace falling from her waist like a water fall - her white-blonde hair was pulled back into a bun, while the crown laid on top of her head. If I looked close enough, I could see red rimmed on the outline of her now blue- gray eyes. I felt awful. Stupid me and my not wanting to leave a bunch of werewolves. I saw Tristan's shadow come up behind me,

"Mother." My mom slowly turned her head towards us, her face was shocked, than relieved. Before I was engulfed by her hug, I sighed in relief as I saw her eyes turn back to normal. "Hi mom. I'm sorry, I did -." but I was cut off,

"Serena! My daughter! Where have you been?!?" I froze, my mom still holding tightly to me. To my relief, Tristan spoke up,

"She tripped in the woods on her way back to the kingdom and fell unconscious. I found her walking outside and brought her to you." Tristan's voice was calm and I tried to twist in my mother's grip to look at his face. Tristan gave me a nudge in the back, signaling I should play along.

"Yes, Mom. I'm sorry I gave you such a scare."

"Oh My Goodness. Let me see where you hit your head." My mom's voice was full of panic as her hand reached toward my head. I quickly twisted out of her grasp and twirled far enough away where she would not be able to reach me. I tried to give her a reassuring look as her face was shocked and confused.

"No need, Mom. Tristan healed me right when he found me." I smiled at her. But her eyes turned a sickly bluish-white as she narrowed them at me. She looked me up and down, probably looking for evidence of Tristan's story or making sure Tristan healed every scrape and scratch I had gotten form my fall. Which one? I was not completely sure, but she said no more to me and turned her deathly stare to Tristan.

"Follow me." she ordered as she gracefully stalked out of the room. I sighed in relief as Tristan and I exchanged a glance and followed like the Queen had ordered. My Mom was looking for something on her elegant desk, whooshing papers every which way. Finally, She found a quil and a piece of parchment and looked up at Tristan and me. "Serena I am giving you your own personal guards to watch you from now on until my nerves have calmed down." Her stare was eery, "you are not allowed to leave this palace without either of the two. They will escort you to and from anywhere you may go." I gawked at her. This was the worst punishment anybody could throw at me. No more privacy, always being watched. I would not be able to walk in the woods alone or never be alone again. I tried to find out where in Tristan's fake story I had done anything wrong. . . . I didn't. They only thing I could do was,

"_Why?_" I stared at her. She returned the stare.

"Well, Serena we surly do not want this to happen again. Do we?"

"But that's not fair!"

"I believe it is quite fair." She retorted. Anger was building up inside me as my mother sat down and starting writing on the parchment. Near-by a vase exploded. Without even looking up my mother responded, "Serena, I expect you to keep your temper in control." she said as she repaired the vase without even motioning towards it. I stomped my foot in frustration,

"What about Tristan?!?! Isn't _he _the one who left me in the woods!" No way was I coming out freedom less alone. Tristan turned his head to regard me. My mother spoke up again.

"Tristan, you are not allowed to leave this palace for any reasons, political or not. I will have guards watching all exits to make sure _neither_ of you try to leave." she said the last part while looking at me. I grunted in frustration, but Tristan's face remained in its calm composure. All he did was nod. My Mother finished writing her letter, folded it up and handed it to Tristan, "You will escort your reckless sister to her rooms and than deliver this to the High Guard, than you will return to me." She paused. "We have something serious to talk about." I saw the worry lines forming in my mother's face and my anger turned to curiosity.

"Talk about what?" I asked. My mother ignored my question,

"Serena, you have a gown fitting tomorrow. Tania will knock on your door when the Royal Dressmaker is ready to see you." My Mother rubbed her temples than waved her hand toward the door, but before she could say anything I blurted out,

"Am I to be escorted around the palace as well?" I spat, my voice quivering with anger. The Queen looked up at me, her gaze softened a little,

"Of course." She stood up and walked around her desk towards her bedroom, "You are dismissed." I glared as she left her front room and closed the door behind her. With my arms crossed, I stalked towards the entrance door and flew it open without even touching it. I saw Ravi and Keinon jump out of the way as I stomped passed them. Tristan gave me some space as we walked to my room. Probably letting me cool down a bit before talking. Finally my posture relaxed a bit and Tristan came to walk beside me.

"Its good to know if we were ever in a harmful situation you would rat me out like the loving sister you are." His voice remained calm. I looked up over at him and his face was calm. Tristan turned towards me and grinned, his eyes were also calm. This made me even more annoyed,

"Can you _believe_ her!" I screeched, causing a passing maid to jump. "Having me followed around, like I'm some prisoner!" Tristan laughed. "How can you be so calm! Shouldn't you be mad or upset that you've just been claimed prisoner just like me!" Tristan shrugged

"Having you as a sister has taught me to stay calm and in control. Kind of like when they were teaching us about starting fires. 'Stay calm and it will make the issue solved better.' and besides I have my own ways of getting out of this place." I glared at him.

"So I'm a fire that needs to be put out?" I clipped at him. He shook his head.

"Oh no, Serena. You are _much_ worse than any fire." I huffed and picked up my pace so I could lose him. It didn't work. After a long silence I started thinking. What did he mean when he said he has his own ways? Did that mean he has secret passage ways nobody knows about? And he's been sneaking off at night too? Haha. No way. Tristan's the Good Prince, he wouldn't dare. I'm the only one who has enough bravery in her to sneak off. I remembered one time I told Kaye this and she laughed at me and said,

"Bravery has nothing to do with it, Serena. It is just utter stupidity." I smiled at the memory and changed my thought train. What if Tristan really _did_ have a secret passage? I smiled again and looked over at Tristan,

"You and I have received an invitation from the pack's leader to join them for dinner tomorrow." We had arrived in my corridor, my door in sight. Tristan stopped to turn to me. His expression surprised and confused.

"What?" he asked. I rolled my eyes at him and starting walking again, Tristan following suit. I started to repeat my statement when he shook his head. "No, I meant what do you have to do with all this? Why are you invited?" I should have been hurt by this, but I was just as confused as he was. I was not in the whole wolf circle like my brother was.

"I honestly don't know. Maybe they have grown fond of me." Tristan shook his head,

"Ha! I'm so sure. Too bad you can't go. You are a prisoner remember?" We had reached my door and I turned so I could lean my back on it, my hand on the door handle. I looked up at him,

"Oh, but _you_ have to use one of your 'ways' to get _me_ out of this place."

"And if I don't?" He challenged. I smiled sweetly up at him,

"I will, as you say, 'rat you out' to mother and watch as you get stuck in a harmful situation." He stared at me for a moment, probably trying to figure a way out of my threat.

"And if I don't go?" He stated.

"Oh, you will. Because Leah is probably going to ask you about it tonight when you sneak of to see her and. . . trust me, you won't say no." I said this positively and I watched as he sagged in defeat.

"You are evil." he said the statement, pronouncing each word perfectly. I opened my door, stepped inside and shut the door in his face. My room was dark so I quickly made some light so I could see while I made my way to my bedroom.

* * *

I woke up when I heard a glass breaking in my front room. I slowly got up to see if Tania needed any help cleaning what ever she dropped. I walked out of my bedroom door, down the small corridor and into my front room. As I guessed, Tania was on her hands and knees, cleaning. I quickly moved over a little so I could see what she dropped. Food. My breakfast, more like it. I waved my hand and the food was put back on it's plate and the plate was repaired. Tania jumped out of surprise and quickly got up and spotted me as the newly fixed breakfast plate dropped in her awaiting hands. She bowed as she placed the food on the small table.

"I'm sorry, my lady. I did not mean to wake you." I shrugged and moved to sit down at the table. I saw the food and realized I was starving.

"It's okay, Tania." She smiled at me and quickly went towards the small hallway towards my bedroom. I had finished eating, when she bustled back in.

"Ah, you're finished." She clapped her hands together twice and my front door opened and three maids came in. One quickly took the empty plate and moved out of the room. The other two went towards my closet and pulled out a white gown that I'm sure if I twirled in it, I would look like one of the human's disco balls. I sighed and Tania laughed. "Come, Lady Serena. We can't have you be late."

I let her pull me out of my seat and over towards my stand. I had three enormous mirrors surrounding the walls, so I could see every inch of my body, behind and front. I let the maids take off my nightgown and quickly pull the soft fabric of the dress over my head. Tania started lacing the back of the dress, while the other two maids started pulling my hair up in a elaborate bun. When they were finished, Tania inspected me closely to see if anything was not up to perfection. She had ordered the maids to go find me matching slippers. I was about to step off the stand when my door slowly opened and I saw Emma's confused face. She slowly walked in, looking back out the hallway a few times than closed it and gave me a questioning look. I assumed that I knew who was waiting for me outside of the door and I gave Emma a forced smile,

"Don't you just love my new door ornaments. Compliments to the Queen." I said dryly. Tania laughed. Emma smirked at me, than bounded across the room to give me a firm hug. I was suddenly in an awful mood. Today was not going to be fun. Emma smacked me on my arm. "Ow! That hurt!" I protested.

"Good." she said with satisfaction. "You scared us half to death. Do you realize this?" she glared at me with accusing eyes.

"Yes and I'm sorry." I said as an idea came to mind. Emma looked at me for a while than went and sat down on one of the comfy chairs, throwing her legs over the arm rest. Making her dress fan out around the chair. Her hair was also in a bun with tiny flowers here and there.

"Are you going to tell me where you have been?" she asked, but I ignored her. I was going to get back at my mother today. I quickly hopped back up on the stand. Tania stared at me questioningly,

"My lady?" she asked. Emma was watching me curiously too.

"I'm feeling rebellious today, Tania. Do you think you can cut this dress tooo. . ." I examined myself in the mirror, than placed my hand more than half-way up my thigh, "here?" I said smiling at her. Tania's eyes widened. Emma had a wide grin on her face. "Please, Tania. I promise I will be totally to blame for this, I won't mention you in the least." I gave her another smile and she sighed than nodded. She quickly went out the room.

"Are you mad?" otherwise the question, Emma was grinning ear to ear. "Mother is going to murder you." Before I could retort, Tania came back in with a sewing basket and moved to start cutting the fabric.

"I must hurry. Before I am responsible for getting Lady Emmalee and yourself late." and with that she started working on my dress.

* * *

I examined myself in the mirror, now showing my bare legs.

"Come on, Serena! We're going to be late!" Emma screamed from the doorway. I quickly turned away and ran towards her. Emma grabbed my hand and started pulling me into a run. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the guards shocked faces than they started quickly following after. I smiled as we passed several people. It was amusing to watch their shocked or outraged expressions at my attire.

We finally made it an archway that sloped downwards towards an opening in the wall. Emma pulled me through and we came to a halt in front of a dark-featured and extremely thin elfin woman. She looked down at Emma and I with black eyes. She reminded me of a hawk. She looked at my dress and frowned with disappointment, which only made me smile. Behind her I could see Danielle and Kaye standing on their stands already getting measured. When Danielle saw me, her mouth fell open, than she smiled and winked at me. Kaye's face was lined with disapproval. Emma pulled me away from the hawk lady and we made our way to our stands. Immediately maids started measuring me. Danielle looked at me and smirked,

"Nice to see you again, Serena." I smiled at her.

"Of course. Its always nice to see me." I retorted. Kaye looked at me, disapproval still on her face,

"And where have you been?" Kaye asked.

"Like I can tell you here." I gestured to all the elves bustling around carrying fabric and running in and out of the rooms.

"Elvin told me you were trying to make it to your room late last night." Danielle said.

"Oh? And why if Elvin told you I had returned, you didn't come running to welcome me home? What a sister you are." I drawled at her. To my amazement, Danielle's cheeks got bright red and she quietly mumbled,

"I got distracted, is all." Emma laughed out loud, startling one of the maids. They were all done now and we had the big fitting room to ourselves for a while.

"Danni, you whore!" Emma whispered, fiercely. Kaye turned to stare in shock at Emma,

"Emma!" I screamed, laughing. Emma was about to say something else when her expression changed entirely, her gaze had taken her to the guests' entrance. We all turned to follow her gaze and an elf with long straight-black hair that had white flowers braided into it had entered the fitting room with her own elfin maids. Her white eyes - making her look both frightening and exotic - turned to glare at us each in turn, lingering a bit longer on Danielle.

"Donella." Emma hissed, so only we could here. Elves were slowly coming back into the room showing each of us fabric.

"I don't think she likes us very much," Kaye said after she just told a maid politely that she did not like the color red.

"No, Kaye. Correction. She _hates _Danni. But of course I probably would to if I got _my_ boyfriend taken away from me." I told her, laughing

'I did not steal Elvin!" Danielle said. "He came to me all on his own."

"Well, of course we know that, Danni. But Donella does not." Emma said dryly, while turning every so often to glare at the black-haired elf.

"And the fact that she keeps hoping that Elvin will soon return to her," I added. I instantly regretted it as I saw Danielle's face contort in worry. "But of course that will never happen because Elvin is completely in love with you, Danni." I said, trying to get rid of the worry lines.

"Let's talk about something else," Kaye suggested. "Did you two see the new Royal Dressmaker?" she asked.

"Oh you mean the lady who so rudely stared me and Serena down?" Emma asked sarcastically. I laughed.

"Yes, that would be the one." Kaye replied. We heard someone whistling and than Elvin emerged from the doorway, carrying an autumn colored flower in his hand. Danielle started glowing when she saw him. Emma made a gagging sound.

"You aren't suppose to be down here, Elvin." Kaye hissed at him as he stepped in front of Danielle, bowed than gave her the flower. He turned to Kaye,

"I'm sorry, Princess Kaylene. I'll be leaving shortly." he turned his attention back on Danielle.

"You are so pathetic." I told him. Without even taking his eyes off Danielle, he pushed me causing me to fall off the stand. I stumbled over my feet causing Donella to look our way. Her eyes widened when she saw Elvin. Emma was laughing hysterically, Kaye looked concerned, and Danielle hadn't even noticed or she was choosing not to. Either way Elvin had grabbed her hand and was now kissing it slowly. "Danielle! Do you not even care that he just pushed me!" I said as I climbed back onto the stand. A maid had come up to Emma and started showing her all the fabrics she had chosen for her.

"That will be perfect." she told the maid. I looked at Danielle,

"Well?" I screamed at her.

"No I don't." she said, which caused Emma to start laughing again. I glared at Elvin and sent out a wave of force. He stumbled away from Danielle into a small table, knocking it down in the process. I started laughing until a voice from in front of us drowned it out,

"What are you doing down here novice!" We all turned our heads toward the voice, and the hawk lady was standing in the doorway looking livid. Than another voice broke in,

"Elvin! Is that you?" Donella's voice chirped from behind. Danielle turned to glare at me,

"Bravo, Serena. The _other_ whore is on the attack now." she said it loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. I heard Donella's exaggerated gasp from behind. The hawk lady's expression hardened,

"Watch your language, Princess." she said, her voice eery. She turned to stare at Elvin who had picked up the table and placed everything back on top. "Leave, novice." Elvin bowed to us than quickly reached over to give Danielle a quick but firm kiss than left. A maid ran up to me showing me brown, green, and gold fabric, I nodded to her not really paying attention. The hawk lady glared at Danielle than left the room again. After we had all finished with our dress fitting's and making our way to lunch, Emma leaned over to us and whispered,

"We really should try to get her fired." I quickly nodded in approval.

* * *

**reviews please. I will probably have the next chapter up later tonight. **

**Depends on how tired i am. **

**Don't worry the next chapter will definately involve Jacob.**


	7. Problems

After seven hours of being gawked at for my improper dress, dealing with all the lectures I got for 'disappearing' for a day, and being followed throughout the whole entire day by my two guards, I finally walked into my room, exhausted. As soon as I plopped down on my extremely soft bed, Tristan barged into my room.

"Alright! Come on! Time to go! " he said cheerfully. I groaned and slowly got back up. When I looked back up at Tristan, he was gawking at me. Oh, yea. I almost forgot. My dress. I slowly twirled around,

"Do you like it?" I asked. Tristan was shaking his head. I laughed.

"I heard everyone talking about my sister in a indecent gown, but I never really thought you would do that and now," he shook his head again.

"I'm taking that as a 'no'" I stated as I walked passed him towards my front door.

"Where are you going? You are not leaving here until you put on something that shows no skin." I laughed.

"Funny, Tristan. Besides humans where short dresses all the time. It's not a big deal." I started walking towards the door again.

"Serena. ." he warned. I made a frustrated sigh,

Tristan, you're not going to win. . .so just drop it now. Please. And get me out of this hell hole." I started yet again walking towards the door.

"Serena," I heard his voice say. I stomped my foot and turned around and said,

"What!" Tristan was walking towards my balcony.

"How do you plan to get passed your two new best friends?" he asked. Oh. I quickly ran away from the door to his side,

"So what were your plans?" I asked. He gestured towards the balcony,

"I was thinking we make a jump for it." He moved to the balcony, sat down and flipped his legs over the wall, looked back at me, and jumped.

"Tristan!" I screamed as I ran towards the balcony and I leaned over, than sighed with relief as I saw him hanging on the vines below. Tristan laughed quietly than motioned for me to follow. I hesitated at first, but I flipped my legs over anyway and jumped. One hand flew to the vines and the other reached to grab Tristan's arm. I fell right beside him,

"Ow!"

"Sorry,"

"Okay, we have to do this quick. Climb down my body to my feet than just jump. You should only be a foot form the ground. Okay?" I nodded than slowly maneuvered my self down to his feet. Suddenly I was scared to let go. I gripped his shoe with both hands, refusing to let go. He shook his foot,

"Serena, let go!" he whispered. I shook my head, "I promise you won't get hurt. You aren't that far from the ground. Just hurry up before we get caught." He gave his leg another shake. I took a deep breath and I released. I was surprised when I landed on my feet. I looked up at Tristan and smiled,

"That wasn't so bad." I stated.

"Glad you think so. Now move." he ordered. I quickly got out of the way as he jumped down and landed on his feet. He moved to my side, grabbed my arm, and started towing me towards the woods. "Leah is going to meet us over here."

Leah was leaning against a tree when we found her. She was wearing blue material pants and a thick, long-sleeved red shirt. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She smiled when she saw us,

"Hey you." She told Tristan. We walked up to her and to my surprise, she gave me a quick hug, than laced her fingers through Tristan's and started leading us out of the woods. When Sam's house came into view, I felt a smile pulling at my mouth. I was so excited to see them all again I was almost running towards the front door. I was the first there, so I got the privilege of knocking. Emily opened the door,

"Serena!" She quickly ushered me inside, Tristan and Leah following suit. Emily closed the door and gave me a firm hug. Than she turned her gaze to Tristan,

"Hello, I'm Emily." Emily stuck out her hand and Tristan shook it while saying,

"Tristan." Emily nodded, than looked him up and down and finally said,

"You'll do." I smiled and Leah smacked Emily on the arm.

"What?" she asked innocently. When Leah only gave her a meaningful look, Emily continued, "Well, Tristan everybody is outside in the back waiting to meet you so I'd get a move on if I were you." Tristan smiled as Leah tugged him towards the back door. I made to follow but than I got serious butterflies. _What if Jacob is out there? _I thought than I quickly retorted back at myself, _who cares? _Yea. Who cares? He's just some guy who likes to glare at you, is all. I saw Emily in the kitchen watching me suspiciously and decided not to go outside just yet. I strode over to Emily and sat down on one of the stools across from her. She laughed.

"Need any help, Emily?" I asked.

"Umm. . . actually you could carry this outside for me," she handed me a tray of drinks, "and put it on the table." I stared at her than nodded. But I did not want to go outside. Maybe I could float the drinks outside and stay inside. That could work. Right? No. I still had no clue where the table was and I did not want to be known for showing off. I came back to the present and found Emily staring at me with a smirk. I frowned at her,

"Fine. I'll go outside." I groaned as I got off the stool and headed towards the back door. I heard Emily laughing from behind in the kitchen. I quickly went through the back door, but I stopped. There was more than one table; there was three. I took a step backwards to retreat back inside. _What are you doing? This is just all the same people from last night. Get a grip!_But as I looked around there was three girls I did not know. And the fact Leah and my brother were here this time too, did not help the situation. I got slightly peeved that he belonged here and I did not. I calmed down a bit when I saw Quil and Embry's backs to me and that Jacob was no where in sight. I took a deep breath and walked as fast as I could without tripping. Everybody was in conversations and too distracted to see me, I noticed with satisfaction as I ran back inside to Emily. But when I turned the small corner to the kitchen, I heard Quil's voice,

"Serena!" I flinched at his voice, but made no move to go back outside. I was out of breath and frozen, Emily turned towards me and put a hand on her hip,

"Serena! You look like you just ran a mile. What is the matter with you?" I shrugged because I could not speak just yet. I slipped in the kitchen with her and rested my elbows on the lower counter. She laughed and started rubbing my back like a mother trying to calm down her upset child. I heard her about to say something than she froze. I looked up to find her smirking at something behind me. I stood up and slowly turned around, but before I could see who was standing behind me, someone wrapped their really hot arms around my knees and threw me over there shoulder. I let out a shriek of surprise, than started beating their back with my fists,

"Don't you dare drop her, Embry!" I heard Emily scream as I was carried outside.

"Embry! Put me down!" I felt strands of hair falling out of my bun from being turned upside-down. Embry stopped and flipped me back over to stand on my feet. I stumbled backwards and someone's hands caught my back and gently pushed me forward, so I could regain my balance. I glared up at Embry, who was smiling broadly, and put a wave of force into my fist and punched him in the chest. He jumped back with surprise,

"Ow! That actually hurt." He complained while rubbing where I had punched him. People laughed from behind. I turned around at a normal speed, lifted my chin, and crossed my arms. Three people were standing before me, while - to my immediate discomfort - Jacob was sitting on the edge of a chair. Paul, some girl, and Quil stood before me.

"Come on, Serena. Don't be mad," Quil urged as he patted my head and to my annoyance more of my curls fell loose.

"Quil," I complained as I tried to put the strands back, it did not work.

"Oops. Sorry." he said, looking not at all sorry.

"Hey, Serena." Paul told me, I looked up and smiled,

"Hi, Paul." I waved up at him, he laughed than started to walk away,

"I'm going tell everybody your now outside." he started walking towards Jared and another girl and Sam and basically everybody else who was outside.

"No! Paul! Come back!" he - of course - ignored me. I heard a girl's laughter and turned to face her,

"I'm sorry. Quil is rude. I'm Claire." she said, smiling. Claire was the same height as me and probably the same age. She had big average brown eyes and dirty blonde hair.

"Serena." I told her, she laughed again,

"I got that." I laughed. She was looking at me in a weird way, Quil seemed to notice to because he leaned in and whispered in her ear,

"You get use to the ears." he stated, Embry laughed from still behind me. I quickly covered my ears with both hands, Embry laughed louder. I turned to glare at him again, but than the Claire spoke up,

"I'm sorry. There just surprising. If it makes you feel any better, you probably think our ears are strange too." I laughed

"Yea, I do." Claire mockingly put her hands over her ears in mock surprise. I smiled at her. Claire than motioned to my dress when I put my hands down,

"I love your dress."

"Oh. Thank you." I looked down at my dress and smiled. "And I love your pants." I told her as I motioned to the similar blue pants that Leah was also wearing. She gave me a quizzical look than replied,

"I guess if I didn't know what jeans were, I'd tell that to somebody too." she said as she laughed. Quil was now positioned behind Claire leaning over saying something to Embry, Claire and I started talking about how different our clothes were and than Jacob got up off the chair and rose to his full height. I felt extremely small and costrophobic right about now. Even though Jacob had not said anything to me or any one else after Embry carried me out, I did not forget he was there. His presence was too. . . big to ignore. Jacob started joining in to the other werewolves' conversation. Claire and I were hidden because well they had formed a circle around us. Claire looked just as annoyed as I felt. I moved so I was standing right beside her and whispered,

"I feel like the shortest person on earth right now." I said, annoyed. She laughed,

"Me too." she replied.

"Is it always like this?" I asked, glancing up at the three heads looming above us. She rolled her eyes,

"Unfortunately yes. But I guess you sort of get use to, but the annoyance factor doesn't go away." I laughed.

"You think we can sneak out?" I asked. At first she looked skeptical than nodded.

"We might." She grabbed my arm and pulled me in between Embry and Jacob. Before I could follow her completely out, someone wrapped their arm around my waist and pulled me out of Claire's grasp.

"Embry!" I exclaimed. Embry shook his head at me,

"It wasn't me," he said smiling with excitement. I looked to Quil, who also had the same goofy smile on,

"It wasn't me," He defended himself. I looked up at Jacob, who looked embarrassed. I felt pretty awkward and looked at Claire, silently pleading with her to pull be away again.Claire started pulling me away again, but than I was pulled back,

"Embry!" I screamed at him, now extremely annoyed.

"Okay. That time it was me," Claire looked pretty peeved, as well. We both glared up at him.

"Sorry, girls there is a point I'm trying to convince." Claire got understanding on her face, but I looked up at him with a confused expression. I wanted desperately to leave now.

"Well, do you mind trying to convince your point with out me," I replied, he shook his head.

"Sorry, Serena, _you_ are my point." I looked up at him, confused. Than I glanced at Jacob, who was avoiding my gaze and than Quil, who was watching Claire intently with his. Before I could ask anything, Claire muttered,

"Dammit, Embry." She grabbed my arm and pulled me quickly away. This time no one stopped us and I heard Embry's voice from behind,

"Couldn't help yourself, could you Jake?" Embry teased. I heard something crash into something. "Ow! What is with people hitting . . ." Embry's voice trailed off as Claire brought me to safety, back inside. We walked to the kitchen and sat on the stools. Emily was still inside, moving chairs and tables around,

"Don't worry about us, Aunt Emily. Me and Serena will sit on the couch." Claire told her. Emily looked up and nodded. The word 'Aunt' caught me off guard and I stopped what I was about to say. Claire seemed to have noticed and explained,

"My mom and her are sisters, which makes her my aunt." She said, I digested this little bit of information and wondered how weird that has to be,

"Yea, it's not as awkward as it looks." she reassured me, probably because of my expression. I laughed. Emily came back around the kitchen counter and started stirring the food. She stopped and gave Claire and I a disapproving look,

"And why are we not outside?" she asked.

"Because people were harassing Serena." Claire replied. Emily looked to me and I nodded, approvingly. Emily smiled,

"Fine. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. . . .so go claim your place on the couch." she instructed. We both nodded,

"What are we having for dinner?" Claire asked as she and I hopped off the stools.

"Spaghetti." Emily told her. Claire shrugged and started towards the couch. Emily looked at me and asked,

"Is spaghetti okay, Serena?" I nodded, even though I had no clue what 'spaghetti' was and moved to sit down beside Claire on the couch. I started to wonder how my brother was coping. I smiled to myself. Claire and I started talking about our clothes again when Emily told everybody to come inside. Claire gestured towards to edge of the couch,

"Hurry! Spread out before they come in!" She quickly sprawled out over the couch and I copied her. My legs were spread out over hers, and there was no room for anybody to sit on the couch, unless they sat on top of us, when they all bustled through the back door. Everybody quickly got their plates of food and spread out throughout the room. My brother was talking to Jared with Leah by his side. Quil had picked up a chair and set it down beside Claire. He darted off to get food,

"Okay one of us has to get up and get the food, while one of us stays here and guards the couch." Claire told me, smiling. I nodded in agreement.

"I'll go." I told her as Quil came back with his plate of food and sat down. I moved passed all the people and into the kitchen, Emily was before me and I was thankful because I had someone to copy off of, since I had no idea what I was doing. I fixed two plates and ran back to Claire. Throughout the night as I talked to Claire and Quil I noticed two things: That Quil was the cutest thing when he was around Claire. They way he_ watched_ her was just mind blowing. The second thing was after Sam finally came to talk to me, I noticed Jacob watching me with the weirdest expression, but when I turned to get a good look, he would turn his head completely. After Sam moved back to Emily, I kept watching Jacob out of the corner of my eye. He would watch me with the same expression, but every time I turned to glance at him, he would look at someone else and his expression would change into a mask. This was surprisingly frustrating. One time, when he turned away from my now annoyed stare, I groaned in frustration. Claire jumped from my outburst and Quil glanced at Jacob and started laughing hysterically.

"Sorry," I mumbled. Claire patted my arm and said,

"It's okay." I laughed at that. After everyone ate and helped Emily clean up. Some went back outside and most stayed inside. Jacob to my relief went outside.

"Serena!" I turned my head to the sound of my name, Emily was gesturing for me to come to her. I quickly got up and strode over to her,

"What?" I asked.

"Can you go get Leah for me, please?" She asked, sweetly. I rolled my eyes at herand nodded.

"Yes, Emily." I slowly walked to the backyard, completely lost in thought. I stepped through the door and felt the floor go farther down than necessary. I forgot there was a step. I lost my balance and fell on the hard pavement. My left knee was stinging with pain and so was my left hand. Before I could even look at my knee, someone scooped me up off the ground. I yelped in surprise, and started wishing people would stop picking me up. I glared at whoever picked me up and was shocked when I looked up into Jacob's concerned face. Even though I was shocked my gaze did not waver,

"Put me down," I growled at him. His face flickered to amusement than carefully set me on my feet, his arm steadying me. I turned to look for Tristan, so he could heal me, but when I spotted him, I thought better of it. He was sitting on a swing with Leah curled up next to him. I took a step forward with my right leg and shoved Jacob off,

"Are you sure you don't want me to carry you?" he asked, I could not see his face, but his voice was full of concern,

"No. Leave me alone." I told him as I leaned all my weight on my left leg, which I now know was a bad idea. My knee buckled from under and a swayed to the side. I was falling at an awkward angle and it looked like it was going to hurt. . . a lot. I squeezed my eyes shut from the impact, but it never came. Jacob caught me without pausing and lifted me up in his arms again, ignoring my complaints. He carried me inside and set me on the counter, I glared at him with open dislike. I looked at my knee, which was bruised and bloody. I groaned in disgust. Quil appeared out of no where just when Jacob grabbed a towel, wet it, and started cleaning my knee. I started to complain, but than decided he probably wouldn't listen again. Quil was smirking at us with amusement, and I was about to ask him why when Jacob's hand touched my skin. I jumped and Quil laughed, I reacted with annoyance much too strong to get rid of my embarrassment,

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" I spat at Jacob. Once it was out of my mouth I deeply regretted it. He looked up and glared at me with the same glare he gave me the first time I saw him,

"Fine." he growled at me. He threw the towel on the counter and walked passed Quil while saying,

"You fix her." I watched as he grabbed his jacket and moved out of the front door. I sighed and turned to Quil who was looking for something in the cabinets,

"What is his problem with me?" I demanded from Quil with clear annoyance. Quil looked at me and smiled,

"You stepped in his line of vision," he told me as he put a bandage on my knee and started cleaning my hand.


	8. An Extremely Long Night

I left the end of the conversation at that, even though I was completely confused. I knew if he continued, I'd be more lost than I already was. Thinking about Jacob gave me a headache. My hand started to sting, and I came back to reality,

"Quil, I'm such a fool. You don't have to do that. . ." Quil stopped and looked up at me, "Just could you do me a favor?"

"Sure, Serena. What?" he looked suspicious, but was smiling at me anyway.

"Can you possibly go get Tristan for me . . . .?Oh and Leah for Emily. Because I was supposed to . . . but I fell." I motioned to my knee, "and seeing as I can't walk anywhere. . . "I trailed off and Quil laughed

"Fine. Backyard, right?" I nodded. "Okay." he started slowly walking away, "don't go anywhere, crippled elf." He told me sternly, while holding his finger up at me. I nodded.

"I promise I won't even attempt to move." he smiled than walked out the back door. A few minutes later, Tristan came striding in looking worried; he found me perched on the counter. I saw Leah walk passed him, heading towards the living room. Tristan came to stand in front of me,

"What hap-?" I stopped him by pointing down to my knee and rose up my hand. "How did you do this?" I shrugged.

"I fell." I told him. He gripped my left hand hard and I winced from the sting, but it quickly evaporated; like it always does. He released my hand and it was scratch-free and no longer red.

"I should have known." he stated, while rolling his eyes. He, than, gripped my knee.

"Ow!" I hissed, "Not so hard." I told him.

"Sorry," he let go of my knee and it looked like the other knee; no more redness or scratches. I quickly pushed him aside so I could jump down.

"Hey! I told you not to move, crippled elf!" Quil had reappeared and was shaking his finger at me,

"Yes, but seeing as I'm not crippled anymore. . . "I trailed off as I lifted my leg up for him to see. He gawked at my newly healed knee, than shook his head violently. In one swift movement, Quil grabbed my leg and wrapped his large hands around my knee, leaving me with only one leg to stand on. I lost my balance and was about to fall backwards when Tristan caught me from behind.

"Quil!" I shouted out of shock, he was inspecting my knee with such determination on his face, I had to laugh. I looked up at Tristan, who was still holding me; he was staring at Quil, intently. I started to wonder why, when a familiar face appeared in the kitchen doorway,

"Quil! What are you doing?" Quil released me, which caused me to slump forward half-way onto the ground; humph. Some holder Tristan was. Quil spun around to face Claire,

"Claire! . . . Serena! She had a bruised up knee and it was scratched and now . . . it's gone!" Tristan pulled me back into a standing position as Claire came around Quil, her back now facing him, to look at my knee. She looked at my face first and I knew she was trying to confirm the truth. I smirked and nodded, slightly so Quil wouldn't notice. Claire smirked back,

"Quil, I see no bruise or scratch." Claire told him. Tristan started laughing as Quil groaned in frustration.

"I know! But there _was_ a bruise! I saw it with my own eyes! It disappeared!" he protested as Claire turned to look up at him,

"Calm down, Quil." she turned to me and winked.

"But. . . . ." Quil turned to me, pointing an accusing finger. "You! What did you do! Tell Claire you so had a bruise!" He told me, Claire raised her eyebrows at me, her back still facing Quil. I looked up at Quil with a concerned expression,

"Quil, I don't have a bruise on my knee." I told him calmly. It took all my concentration to not laugh out loud. Quil started screaming at me, saying that I fell and Jacob cleaned my knee and how I spat at Jacob and how Jacob left.

"I'm not crazy, Claire." he insisted with wide eyes.

"Okay, Quil. There was a bruise." Claire told him, kind of like doctors tell psycho people that they aren't crazy.

"I'm serious, Claire. There really was." Quil was pleading now, and I started to feel guilty, but before I could tell Quil I had a bruise, Tristan spoke up,

"Okay. Yes. Serena had a bruise on her knee."

"You see!" Quil cried, "I told you!" Quil jumped, triumphantly and landed with a loud thud. Claire turned to regard Tristan,

"Thank you for ruining my fun." she told him, feigning sternly.

"Your fun is having me think I'm insane?" Quil asked, seeming astounded. Claire looked up at him, shocked.

"No. It was just funny. I was going to tell you after a few minutes." she told him. Claire started to chuckle, "ah, your face Quil. . .it was priceless." Quil tried to glare at her, but I could tell pretty easily that he was having a lot of difficulty trying to accomplish the small task.He finally gave up and sighed,

"Fine. I'm hungry." Quil said, unrepentantly. Claire laughed and turned to me,

"Serena, can you go by the couch and I'll be there after I fix Quil some _more _food." she asked with a smile. I nodded,

"Yea, sure." I quickly swept out of the kitchen with Tristan as Quil came to nudge me in the arm. I looked back at the small-looking girl, standing next to Quil and I could easily picture her turning into another Emily. I smiled at the thought. And saw that Tristan had moved back to Leah's side. I sighed and wondered if I would ever find _someone_ for me. As soon as I thought it, I quickly tried to think of something else because a familiar handsome face popped into my head and I refused to even think his name. I quickly swept the image away and ran to the couch. Embry popped up beside me and gave me a sympathetic smile.

"I heard you successfully ran dear Jake out of the house _again_." He smiled, than. "Hey, tomorrow let's see if you can run him out of the house again. You could probably go for world records or something." he nudged me, playfully.

"Ha! I'm pretty positive it won't be so hard." I replied, grimly. Embry laughed and wrapped his arm around my shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"Don't worry, Serena. He'll come around soon enough. I mean he really has no-." Embry stopped. I glanced up at him, his face was blank than he went back to his smile. I ignored his strange behavior and replied,

"Why should I worry or care if Jacob decides to be nice to me?" I asked, Embry abruptly turned to me and stared at my face, intently. I figured out what he was doing way too late, but I still tried to put my face into a mask, so he wouldn't be able to study it any longer. Embry laughed at my useless attempt,

"Because you know you _do_ care if he's nice to you or not."

"No, I don't." I said, stubbornly. And I really didn't care if Jacob talked to me ever again. At least I hope I didn't care. But did I? No. Of course not. Again, why would I? Once again, Jacob had succeeded in giving me another headache. I pushed him out of my head, eager to turn back to Embry and change the subject. As I started to talk again, Claire appeared with Quil tailing after.

"Move it, Call. I was sitting there." Claire told Embry. Embry got up with a frown,

"Man, Quil. Your girlfriend is a -." Embry never got to finish his original statement because Quil was glaring daggers at him, ". . . sweet, loving, girl." Embry finished with a smirk as Claire sat down. Embry put his large hand on top of her head and shooshed her hair. Claire frowned at him, but said nothing.

The evening passed in sections after that. I finally met the other girl; Jared's girlfriend, Kim and the other girl was her friend, Melody. I talked to Seth too for a while than he said he was tired and was going to take a nap before work. Emily was cleaning the kitchen with the help of Sam and Paul. Embry had succeeded in getting back at Claire all night, since the seat incident; he would every ten minutes shoosh her hair again and finally she pulled it out of it's pony tail. After a while, I started braiding Claire's hair and Jared left with Kim and her friend. Paul left soon after, saying he would be back in a while. Finally Sam came up to Quil, Embry, Claire, and me,

"Where'd Jacob go?" he asked, looking kind of annoyed and impressed at the same time, if that was possible. Everybody shrugged,

"Serena chased him out again." Embry told him with a grin. Sam rolled his eyes,

"Tell Emily I'll be back in a while."

"Sure thing." Embry replied. Sam walked out of the front door, leaving everybody in silence. I was playing with Claire's braid, just twisting it around my finger, when Claire leaned forward onto the couch's arm. Quil leaned in and kissed her on her forehead. After I while Claire's eyes closed and I leaned my head back and closed mine too. It didn't take me long to drift to sleep, but before I did I heard Quil and Embry's voices,

"I'm scared to see how this ends." I heard Embry comment.

"We shouldn't worry too much. I mean it's only been two days." Quil replied.

"Yea, but could you last two days, Quil?"

"No. But I'm sure it can be done by. . . ." when Quil didn't finish, I heard Embry's voice finish,

"By stubborn-ass werewolves like Jacob Black." Embry muttered, grimly.

"Jacob might be able to avoid her for two days, but trust me; he won't be able to ignore her for long. It . . . it would get too hard." There was a pause and I caught only a little bit before I went into unconsciousness,

"Yea, but just incase I think we shouldn't lead her on anymore, just incase . . . . . you know, he doesn't . . . accept it." Embry finished.

"No. He will accept it. He doesn't have a choice." Quil replied right as I fell asleep.

I woke up hearing the sound of chuckling, and seeing a bright light pass through my eyelids. I opened my eyes to see that Embry and Quil were standing in front of me with a small silver rectangular box thing. Emily was standing beside them on her tiptoes trying to see the silver box which Quil and Embry were looking at. I realized I wasn't sitting up like I had when I fell asleep. I must have slid down. Whatever I was lying on was making my vision move up and down, slowly. Than I realized my head was on Claire's back. I quickly sat up; to my relief Claire was also still sleeping. Embry must have noticed I was awake because I heard his voice,

"Good morning, sleepy head." I looked at him as he was making a face than he added, "Well, actually it's not morning yet, so. . . Good night, sleepy head." I smiled while stretching and stood up. I did not remember the whole conversation I heard from before I fell asleep, only one statement, but I couldn't figure out why, though. I could hear Embry saying in my head,

'By stubborn-ass werewolves like Jacob Black.' I shook my head as Claire stirred and opened her eyes. I mean maybe I remembered it because Embry said werewolves or maybe because of his tone. Or maybe I remembered it because he said Jacob's full name. But that was stupid. Why would I remember just that if he said Jacob's full name? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Ah! This was starting to get frustrating.

"Serena?" I broke out of my reverie. Embry was looking at me with concern, and to my immediate horror so was everybody else: Quil, Emily, Claire, Tristan, and Leah. Goodness. How long was I arguing with myself?

"Yea?" I asked. Claire laughed and I noticed some of her braid fell out. Embry shook his head and chuckled.

"Well I have to get Serena home before I get yelled at again." my brother said, still looking at me with concern. I gave him a reassuring smile, trying to convince him I wasn't really losing my mind. Maybe I should go stare in a mirror so I could give myself the same reassuring smile and convince myself I wasn't losing my mind, either. Tristan didn't buy it; all he did was narrow his eyes, suspiciously.

"Yea, of course." Emily replied. She gave Leah a hug, patted Tristan on the shoulder, and came to hug me too. Before she pulled away, she gave me a kiss on the cheek. She smiled, warmly at me and I returned the smile. I quickly gave Quil, Claire, and Embry a hug. Leah and Tristan said their goodbyes too. Once we were across the street, Leah stated,

"Well, that was fun." Tristan nodded,

"Yea, it was." I replied. When we came to a opening in the woods, Tristan turned to Leah,

"I'll come see you after I escort my sister home." he told her. Leah turned to me and smiled,

"You got in trouble that bad. I'm sorry. That has to be awful. To be escorted, I mean." I shrugged and gave her an all-knowing look,

"Tell me about it." Leah laughed and gave me a quick hug and than to my surprise, kissed Tristan,

"I'll be waiting." she told him. Tristan smiled and watched as she walked off.

"Okay, lover boy. She's gone. Can you escort me home now?" I teased. Tristan scowled at me than grabbed my arm and started pulling me forward. We reached the balcony after a while and I frowned at the large wall in front of me. There was no way I was climbing back up there. I looked at Tristan who motioned me behind a vine fence. He stopped by the wall and knocked three times. To my amazement, the wall slid open, revealing a metal door. Tristan opened the door, stepped inside, and motioned for me to follow. I quickly stepped through into what I could now tell was an underground passage. Tristan closed the door and than we were submerged in darkness until Tristan made the walls glow with light. He led me down the passage and we came to a stop at another door, a smaller wooden door. He flicked it open and behind it was a set of stairs rotating upwards.

"How did you find this?" I asked astounded and amazed. Tristan shrugged.

"I found a map of the palace in the library and it showed all these secret passages." he said as he started up the stairs,

"You mean there are more of them?" I asked, intrigued. He laughed.

"Yes, lot's more." I thought this over than I felt a sly smile spread across my face,

"Can I borrow this map by any chance?" I asked, sweetly. Tristan laughed again as we reached the top that led to a dead end. But Tristan didn't seem phased by it. He walked right up to the wall and knocked three times again. The wall slid open, just like I knew it was going to do, but than it revealed something surprising. "My room!" I shouted. I ran inside and gawked at Tristan, who was still standing in the passage. "I need to borrow this map. This is amazing!" I said, while I twirled around in excitement. Tristan smiled at me,

"Get some sleep, Serena." he told me. I nodded.

"Okay." I ran back to him, gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, than went back inside. Eyeing my bed with satisfaction as I saw my night garment lying on the bed. Tania was here. I heard the wall slide back into place and turned. The wall looked like any other wall, but I knew better. I smiled to myself as I quickly undressed and redressed, hopped into bed, but once I shut my eyes I saw the same face I had been seeing for the past three hours. I groaned and opened my eyes. This was going to me a _long_ night.

Uh. I was walking towards breakfast on Sunday morning. I was already in an awful mood. The things that made me in a horrible mood was well. . .first, it was Sunday and I hated Sundays because it was all the maids' day off, including Tania and this meant I had to eat breakfast with my family and I also hated Sundays because it meant I had class the next day as well. Second, I was exhausted from last night because I got no successful sleep, which made me in an even more dreadful mood this morning. And last the two guards that were waiting for me as I walked out of my room made me even _more _irritated. I reached the archway that marked the entrance to the large dining room. I took a deep breath without stopping and walked in. My mother was not present, which lifted my mood a little. Only my sisters were present. My personal guards stopped at the doorway, finally giving me space. . .

I walked towards the pearl table and sat down on the cushioned chair next to Kaye and across from Emma. Danielle was sitting next to Emma. Emma looked up at me,

"Goodness. Don't you look awful this morning." She commented. I looked at her with hard eyes,

"Thank you, Emma for pointing that out to me." I snapped. Danielle looked up from her breakfast and I started to wonder where my food was.

"It's true, Serena, darling. You look exhausted." Danielle told me. I sighed and placed my head in my hands, I heard Kaye's voice next,

"Did you sleep at all last night?" she asked, I could tell there was concern in her voice, but there was something else. I looked up and saw her face was full of suspicion.

"No, not really." I told her. My younger sister's eyes narrowed at me than she frowned and turned back to her food. "Where is my breakfast?" I asked, slightly irritated at the fact I had none. Right as I said it, a kitchen boy came to place a plate in front of me,

"Thank you." I told him. He bowed,

"No problem, my lady." he walked back towards the two metal doors that led down to the kitchens.

"So, what are we doing today?" Emma asked, casually. Danielle answered,

"I'm going see Elvin today." Danielle replied,

"And I'm going get new slippers made because the one's I have are starting to be too small." Kaye answered. Emma looked at me and I shrugged.

"I'm not doing anything today, Emma. What do you want to do?" I asked her. Emma smiled.

"I want to go see the new garden they just made outside the wall by the far-side of the kingdom." she said, looking excited. I laughed at her eager face,

"Sure, sounds fun."

"Serena, you never told us where you were the other day." Danielle stated. I froze.

"What do you mean?" I asked, stalling for time.

"You know exactly what I mean." Danielle snapped. I took a deep breathe,

"I fell in the woods on my way back home and fell unconscious." I answered, looking down. I could feel their eyes burning through my head.

"Back from where?" Emma asked, sternly. I looked up at her. Emma usually never interrogated me, only Kaye and Danielle did. But Emma always let me keep my privacy. Emma's face was suddenly hard, cold, and hurt. But of course I had never kept anything from her before.

"Alright. I'll tell you, but you must promise you won't tell a single soul." I told them, sternly. They all were leaning in towards me now with eager expressions,

"We promise." they chirped. I took another deep breath, knowing I could trust them, I began my story.

* * *

**i'm sorry i left this chaptr like this. **

**forgive me? i'm having computer and place difficulties.**

**but i promise i will have the next chapter up soon. and agin i'm really sorry. (:**


	9. An Event Filled Day

I told them everything. I told them about being attacked by vampires, spending the night with werewolves, and Leah and Tristan's relationship. I knew it was not my secret to tell, but they should know. When the time came for him to become king, everybody would know. So it pretty much did not matter. Well, at least that is what I kept telling myself. When I was finished telling them my story. All three pairs of green eyes were staring at me like I was insane. Emma finally broke the silence with a kind of terrified laugh. Danielle and Kaye finally blinked. Danielle narrowed her green eyes at me,

"Well, Serena." she snipped. "You could have at least told us you did not wish to share what happened to you, instead of lying to us."

"I am not lying!" I protested. I completely forgot one of them might think I was lying, but surely they all did not. Hopefully. Danielle rolled her eyes.

"I don't believe you." she told me, flatly. I looked to Emma for reassurance; her face was blank, extremely pale. Her gaze was somewhere else, but she than brought her eyes to mine.

"I believe you, Serena." she said with a grim smile. I turned to look at Kaye. She looked at me and gave me the same smile,

"I believe you as well." I smiled in relief, than it quickly vanished when I met Danielle's burning green eyes. Her face was hard and I noticed she was studying me,

"Fine. I believe you if I must." She told me. "But I'm having trouble believing you got attacked by vampires."

"I don't." Kaye said before I could respond. We all turned to her and her eyes widened. "Well, there are books on all nonhuman and magical creatures and myths . . . in the library." she explained. I stared at her in astonishment,

"Since when?" I asked. Kaye laughed.

"Serena, aren't you the reader in the family? How could you not know this?" Emma told me, obviously amused at the fact Kaye had found a book I had not.

"I honestly don't know." I said. I was squinting at Kaye with obvious annoyance because she laughed again. "Did you find these books at some secret library because I have read mostly _all_ of those books and trust me there are no books on 'myths'."

"Yes, Kaye please tell us where?" Danielle spoke up, looking just as amused as Emma. I glared at the both of them than turned to give Kaye a penetrating stare.

"In Daddy's study." she said. I stared at her with confusion, annoyance, astonishment, and a bunch of other emotions on my face.

"Father doesn't have a library in his study." I told her.

"Yes he does." she said, matter-of-factly. She has to be lying because, trust me, I've been in my father's study so many times and there was certainly no library or even a small shelf of books. I was staring at her like she was crazy, even Emma and Danielle were giving her worried looks. Kaye sighed and got up,

"Follow me." she waved her hand at us and all three of us immediately flew up to follow her. Once I walked out of the archway, my new 'friends' appeared. I groaned. Emma looked at me with a confused expression,

"We can no longer talk until we reach Father's study." I said loud enough for the guards to hear. All of my sisters' gazes flew behind me and they each nodded in understanding. After a few minutes, I was walking into a crimson room. I do not know if I was exaggerating or not, but I could feel the temperature suddenly drop once I walked fully inside. I suppressed another groan and I saw Emma and Danielle shudder. I looked to Kaye who seemed a lot paler. I smiled to myself when I realized my sisters must feel the same way about this room. I quickly shut the door in which my guards were standing outside of, stone faced. I suppressed a laugh. I turned just in time to watch Kaye walk up to a blank wall and than to my surprise; she knocked three times. I stared in shock as the wall slid open like I knew it would. My other two sisters gasped with surprise. As Kaye had said, inside was an averaged sized library. Kaye walked inside and turned to look at us.

"Come on." she told us eagerly. Danielle stepped inside followed by Emma and I. The room was brightly lit for a windowless library. I noticed elfin writing carved all over the blue marble walls. Kaye had disappeared behind a shelf. Danielle went to sit down at a small round table; Emma followed suit. I was smiling with pleasure as I looked at all the other books I could read. I half-ran to the first shelf and grabbed the first book I saw.

To my surprise it was hand-written; in elfin writing just like the carvings in the walls. I wondered just _how_ old this library was. Now, we barely used our language anymore, we spoke in English. We were not allowed to speak our natural language, ever since a human learned it and it had caused a huge commotion. Long story; not going to bother explaining it. But unlike an American baby who has to learn his or her language; we did not. We were born with it already in our minds. It was already running through our veins; it was like magic but in words. But of course the language could be taught to anything that spoke. The elfin language could be dangerous in the wrong hands, which is why our ancestors banned it. Of course just like any other baby we _did_ have to learn to speak English. I have only used the language once, even though I do not need it to use magic. None of the royals did; the royals already had unlimited magic in their blood.

Well, anyway I wanted to use the language. I was curious and I did not believe a language could be so powerful. I had walked to my fireplace and said '_fire_' in elfin. Once I said the words I immediately felt so much power in me, I thought I might explode. At the same time a _huge _fire exploded in my fireplace. I had jumped backward out of its burning grip and quickly waved my hand; it disappeared. Just as I was about to start reading the script, Kaye appeared holding a leather book. She was headed towards the table and I quickly went to join my sisters.

"Let me see," I said just as Kaye and I sat down.

"No. I think since I'm the one who doesn't believe in vampires I should see it first." Danielle said, sternly as she grabbed the book out of my reach. I gave her a hard look and she laughed as she opened it up. Her eyes widened when, I'm assuming, she saw the script. But nonetheless, she started reading without saying a word. A while passed and she was still reading, I gave an aggravated sigh,

"How long is it going to take you to finish that, Danielle?" I asked her. Danielle looked up,

"Fine. I was getting tired of it anyway." she threw the book on the table and leaned back. She stared at me with piercing green eyes. "Why is it that _you_ always get to have an adventure?" Danielle said. Emma and Kaye laughed,

"Because Serena is the only one who actually _wants _an adventure." Kaye told her, smiling. "I'm perfectly content with no adventures and staying safely at home." Kaye added, nodding. I laughed. Danielle smiled too,

"So am I." she said. I turned to Emma, who shrugged when she met my gaze,

"As am I." she said, guiltily. We all laughed at Emma's face. After that we spent our whole afternoon in the hidden library. Exploring the different books and playing hide-and-seek. We finally sat at the table again, and Danielle started carving her name in the wood. I followed suit. After I was finished, Emma started carving hers as well. Kaye gave us all a disapproving look than I'm guessing thought better of it because she started carving her name next to mine. We finally got to discuss my story in detail and I told them all about Sam and the other guys. To my instant guilt, we started talking about Tristan. Throughout the discussion, all it really came down to was that we were all worried about him. I told them about Leah and how much I believed he loved her than Danielle scurried off to meet Elvin. Kaye got up too and soon after Emma and I left as well. To my great relief, we both decided we would go see the garden after class tomorrow. The sun was still up when I finally got to my rooms. I plopped down into a chair and started wishing Tania was here so I could have a snack without walking down to the kitchens myself. My thirst and hunger won over my laziness. I slowly lifted myself off the chair and made my way to the front door, I was about to open it when Tristan came through it. I gasped in surprise and almost tripped backwards. Tristan laughed,

"Come on. We are leaving." He told me as he motioned me towards my bedroom. I followed him hastily,

"Um . . . why are we leaving and where exactly are we going because I'm tired, Tristan and hungry and thirsty. And I honestly do not feel like going anywhere right now." I told him, half-complaining. Tristan stopped walking and turned to face me with a smirk on his face,

"Fine. I'll go see Leah and the others without you. I mean they will probably be-." I cut him off as excitement coursed through me,

"No, I'm fine. I'm coming." I said eagerly. He smiled and turned back around. Once we were out of the palace and walking through the tall trees, Tristan turned to me,

"I've been reading some ancient books," he told me, hesitantly. I gestured for him to go on. I suddenly knew where he was getting these books and told myself another visit to that library tomorrow would not hurt. "Well, I've been looking up on how an elf can turn . . . mortal." I stared up at him, not quite sure what to feel about this, when I only nodded he continued, "And ways if the mortal can turn immortal." Once again I could not find any retorts or anything to say, so I just nodded, "but I think I would prefer it if Leah became immortal, but the book did not give any detail on _how_ to actually do it. And I would much appreciate it if you could come and help me look." Suddenly the answer to the question _why_ he would like Leah to become immortal slowly made my body cold. If she could not become immortal, he certainly was looking for ways to become mortal, which meant he would die very very very soon. I would have to live more than half of my life without my brother. I started to panic. The very thought had me slightly shaking. But Leah could become immortal. She _has_ to become immortal. I was not going to lose my brother because of her. I looked up at my brother who was staring at me with the same concerned expression he gave me last night.

"Tristan," I whispered. I started shaking my head up at him, I saw his eyes widen. "Don't go. Don't leave me." Tristan was staring at me like I had lost my mind; I was starting to wonder if I did.

"Serena, what are you talking about? I'm not going anywhere." He spoke, calmly with obvious worry and terror in his eyes. I tried to compose myself; to regain my cool. I tried taking steadying breaths, but nothing I did was helping me calm down until Tristan put his hand on my forehead. My panic and terror were suddenly washed away, I felt perfectly fine again. I did not even feel tired or hungry anymore. I squinted up at Tristan, his face was serious and I realized what he was doing. He was taking the panic and worry away. He was making me feel alright; better than alright. He was healing me. Tristan has healed me probably millions of times, but never like this; never _emotional _healing. He let his hand fall back down and watched me closely. I stared up at him in wonder and he laughed. "You okay?" he asked,

"All better." I told him, still astounded that I could not find an ounce of worry in my body at all. I let out a sigh of relief. He looked at me warily,

"So. . . .can you help me?" he asked, calmly. I nodded,

"Yes." I said eager to go and read more books.

* * *

We reached Sam's house and I ran to the door like last time. Before I knocked, I turned to find Tristan standing on the sidewalk, smiling at me.

"Aren't you coming?" I asked. His smile grew,

"No. My instructions were to drop you off here than go to the shore." He told me. I stared at him than said,

"Okay." I was confused, but all well. I quickly knocked on the door and Emily appeared. She quickly pulled me inside and before shutting the door behind me, she yelled,

"Thank you, Tristan!" I did not hear my brother reply because Emily had shut the door and came to hug me,

"Hey, Emily." I said, cheerfully. She smiled at me,

"Okay. Embry-." I loud, obnoxious noise interrupted her. "Embry's here." She stated as she dragged a very confused me to the front door again. She opened it and what was before was . . . . actually I do not know how to describe it. It was this big metal _thing_ with four round rubber wheels holding it up. It looked menacing and scary. And Embry was _inside_ it, waving at me. Emily pushed me out of the house and towards it,

"What is _that_?" I asked her as she finally succeeded in bringing me closer to the metal thing. She looked at me, idiotically than laughed,

"It's a car." She said smiling, amusingly. "Goodness, I never thought I would be asked that question." She started laughing again as she opened the metal thing and inside was Embry and an empty seat. They really did not expect me to _sit_ in there. Did they?

"Come on, Serena. Hop in." Embry told me, cheerfully. I shook my head and looked at Emily,

"Go ahead, Serena. I promise it won't hurt you at all." It looked like she was holding back more laughter because her mouth was in a tight line. I took a deep breath and slowly got into the 'car'. I flinched when Emily shut the door.

"Buckle her in, Embry." Emily told him, sternly as I watched her walk back inside. Before I could ask what that meant, Embry leaned over me and pulled this strap over me and snapped it into this. . . .I honestly do not know, but it made a clicking sound. I started to panic,

"Why are you strapping me in!?!?" I asked. Embry laughed,

"In case we crash." He said matter-of-factly. Than he looked at my face and probably saw how panicked I was because he added,

"Come on, Serena. It's just like a ride. Have you ever been on a ride before?"

"No!" Than the metal thing started moving and I quickly squeezed my eyes shut and dug my fingernails into my palms. I stayed in that position throughout the whole 'ride' despite Embry's attempts to calm me down. We finally came to a stop at a small white house and Embry jumped out, leaving me strapped to the seat.

"Embry! Help me out!" I screamed after him. He reappeared in the small opening,

"Just push the button, Serena." He said laughing.

"I don't see any button!" I screamed at him than Embry fell because of laughing so hard. I really could not understand why this was so amusing. A few minutes later, Embry opened my side door and pressed a button and the strap came loose. I quickly jumped out of the car and ran at least three feet away from it. Embry started laughing again, this time he had tears in his eyes. When he finally stopped, he strode over to me,

"So, how did you like your first car ride?" he asked. I frowned up at him,

"I did not like it at all." I stated as the house's front door flew open and I saw Claire jumping in the doorway.

"Come on!" she said, waving me towards the door.

"See you two soon. And Claire don't take forever." Embry told her as he made his way back to the car. I watched as he got in than Claire had successfully pulled me inside, in what looked like a hurry. She pulled me towards the couch and than turned to me,

"Serena, what do you feel about a makeover." She asked me, almost bouncing up and down. Her brown eyes were bright with excitement.

"Makeover?" I asked. She smiled,

"Yea. Not that you need one, you are already stunning, but I thought it would be fun. . . . . .Like I can. . . .Well . . . do you trust me?" she finally asked. I could tell she was excited; really excited. I did not want to upset her, so I nodded,

"Will it hurt?" I asked, a little frightened. She laughed and bounced off the couch,

"Of course not." She said as she flew down the hallway. She came back with a pair of jeans and a black top. "Here. See if those fit. It probably will, we look the same size." She said as she threw the clothes at me. "There is a bathroom down the hall, it's the first door." She told me as she went into the kitchen. I watched her in amazement as she bustled around the house; exactly like a small Emily. I smiled to myself as I got up and started walking towards the hallway; when she reappeared again, "Wait! I forgot something. Stay there." She ran down the hall again than reappeared with two pieces of clothing. She looked at me, I recognized one but the other I had no clue what it was. "Do you know what this is?" she asked, blushing. I laughed.

"Yes, but the other one . . . no." she smiled in relief as she threw the black panties on the floor, "I'll pick those up later," she handed me the other black laced piece of clothing and started to explain, "This is a bra." I could tell she was trying to hold back her laughter. "You look like you do not need one, but with the top I'm giving you . . . you will and it will get cold tonight. So I think it is best you wear one," I stared at the bra in my hand, "Do you know how to put it on?" she asked,

"I'll figure it out." I reassured her, she sighed in relief as she pushed me towards the bathroom door.

"Hurry up too!" she said as I shut the bathroom door. I quickly pulled off my many layers of clothing and slipped on the jeans. They fit my every curve in my legs perfectly and I wondered if that was how it was suppose to be. Next, I was guessing was the bra; I examined it for a while than a few minutes later I figured out how it worked. I put it on than next was the top; I picked it up and gasped at how _thin_ the material actually was. I pulled it over my head and than examined myself in the mirror; my bare shoulders and arms were showing and the top's front lowered a little bit farther than expected; I figured if I bent down someone could most probably see cleavage. The back of the top's front lowered as well but much farther than the top; almost to the middle of my back. If I say so myself, I thought I looked pretty darn good. I stepped out of the bathroom slowly and I saw Claire's eyes widen, "God, Serena. You are a babe!" she exclaimed. "Those jeans are a perfect fit. How do you feel?" she asked,

"I feel all exposed," I told her as I motioned towards my body, ". . . .And I love it!" She laughed,

"Now we have to do something about those curls of yours." She said as she came towards me, her expression thoughtful. "The curls are sexy, but would you mind if I straightened your hair?" I squinted at her,

"What does that mean?" I asked, her face was thoughtful again,

"You know what: never mind because I like the curls, we will straighten your hair another time...now do you know what makeup is?" she asked me curiously. I nodded,

"But I'm sure your makeup is not the same as _my_ makeup." I told her, she nodded.

"Like eyeliner?" I shook my head, "blush?" I shook my head again, "mascara and eye shadow?" I shook my head again, but than I stopped,

"Wait, I know what eye shadow is, but I've never worn it except for once and your eye shadow is probably different." I told her, she nodded again,

"Do you mind if I put some on you?" she asked sweetly. I shrugged,

"Sure." I replied. She jumped up and ran towards the kitchen and came back with a small bag, "okay, here we go."

After at least ten minutes of my eyes being tortured over and over again because they kept watering, I got up from the couch and walked over to the closet mirror. The sight that I beheld when I looked in was so shocking I almost jumped back. Claire had put silver eye shadow over my eyelids perfectly and there was a thick line of black around my violet eyes. And my eyelashes seemed to look longer than necessary. I reminded myself of a cat, except with purple eyes instead of yellow. If there ever was a time when I thought my eyes popped before, than this time surely overruled it. I was seriously thinking about asking Claire to turn off the lights and see if she would be able to locate my eyes shining in the darkness.

"Like it?" I heard Claire ask from behind. I located her in the mirror and smiled,

"Yea, I actually do. Thank you." She laughed and got up off the couch, "I'm going get dressed and get you a coat or something, and I'll be back in like two minutes." She wandered down the hall again. I went to sit on the couch and wait for her. I looked out one of the windows and to my amazement I saw that the sun was still up. I laughed to myself and started searching for a clock; I found one soon after, it was only two. I sighed and was about to close my eyes and rest my head on the couch's arm, when Claire came through the opening in the hallway. _Man, she was not kidding when she said two minutes_. I thought, wryly. Claire looked frustrated as she went towards her mirror and started messing with her hair; probably trying to figure out what to do with it,

"Claire," I waited till she turned around, "I can braid your hair, again, if you want." I told her. She started beaming

"Really? Oh my goodness, thank you, Serena." She came to sit down in front of me on the floor and I quickly started braiding her hair. I was finished in five minutes, I put it half up, half down and braided the top,

"I'm done." I stated. Claire jumped up and quickly ran to the mirror. Her face was awestruck,

"How did you _do _this? What kind of braid is this? It looks like a French braid, but than it doesn't and. . . ." she was twirling her hair in the mirror. "Wow. You didn't even use a ponytail." I laughed. Claire half ran over to me and gave me a hug,

"Thank you." She said. I hugged her back,

"Your welcome." She let me go,

"Ah! Come on! We have to go!" she told me, frantically. We were almost out the door when she screamed, "Wait! I'll be right back." She ran down the hall yet again and came back just as quick. She ushered me out of the house and onto the sidewalk. When we were a good distance away from it, she handed me a coat and she threw on a maroon sweater. It looked like it was ten times the size of her, it literally swallowed her whole. I stared at her in shock and she laughed when she looked up at me and saw my expression,

"It's Quil's," she explained as she took a fist full of sweater and inhaled. Her face was so full of pleasure at just smelling a sweater, I had to laugh.

"What?" she asked, innocently.

"Why did you just inhale that sweater?"

"I don't know. . . .I just . . ._ love_ wearing his clothes, they smell like him." I snorted,

"You sound like my sister," I told her. "I don't understand why girls have to wear their boyfriend's clothes, I mean. . . .Don't they have clothes for themselves?" Claire gave me an unbelieving look,

"I am going to laugh my pants off when _you_ start wearing Jacob's clothes." Claire retorted at me, not noticing at all her error. Not noticing at all the name she had just spoken.

That name. _Why_ did that name all of a sudden give me butterflies? My stomach felt uneasy, but at the same time felt _good. _Jacob. I snapped at him last night. I'll say sorry when we reach or destination. I'm sure he will be there. This to my instant fear and relief, made my stomach relax a little. I turned to Claire who was a few feet away from me, just noticing I had stopped. _I_ had just noticed I had stopped. I clenched my stomach with both hands and asked,

"What did you just say?" She stared at me than answered,

"I said 'I am going to laugh my pants off when you start wearing your future boyfriend's clothes.' Why?" I shook my head as I slowly walked up to her,

"That is not what you said. That is _so_ not what you said." I told her,

"What did I say?" she asked, still completely oblivious. I was about to answer, when her eyes widened in understanding, "Oh my God, please, _please_, tell me I didn't say what I think I said." She buried her head in her hands and groaned, "Idiot. Idiot. Idiot." She muttered, quietly to herself. I did not understand her reaction at all; I mean it was only a name. Well, at least it was supposed to be only a name,

"Claire. Claire, calm down, all you did was say. . . .Jacob's name. Why are you making a big deal out of it?" She looked up at me and assessed my face than she sighed in relief,

"Let's get to the beach before I say something else, I will most likely get killed for." Before I could ask anything else, she grabbed my arm and started pulling me along and quickly started talking about the cliffs. Understanding hit me hard as we passed the third house. I looked at Claire, suspiciously, who was now avoiding my gaze and the way she was acting quickly proved my understatement correct. She was hiding something from me. They all were hiding something from me. My brain had too much to think about to fit it all together just yet. But I would. Soon. I looked at Claire again, who was looking straight ahead; I followed her gaze and saw cliffs and a small outline of a beach up ahead and even from this distance, I could make out dark figures moving along it. I smiled when I realized I would be seeing my friends again. I would be seeing Jacob again. This time, when his face popped into my mind, I did not push it away, I kept it there. _I'm allowed to have a crush._ I told myself as we crossed the road. We reached the beach in a matter of minutes. Everybody was standing around, talking. My brother had Leah by his side as always and Sam had his hand on Emily's lower back. Seth was talking to Leah and Tristan as Paul kept messing Leah's hair up. Jared was standing next to Sam and Kim; he was putting strands of her black hair behind her ear. Quil and Embry were the first two, Claire and I reached. Quil automatically wrapped his arm around Claire and gave her a light peck on the lips. Embry scowled at them and copied Quil's exact movement: he wrapped his arm around my waist and instead of the lips; he gave me a peck on the cheek. I laughed up at him. Quil was staring at his best friend, looking angry and annoyed. Claire was laughing too.

"Aw. Cheer up, Quil. Embry is just being retarded." Claire reassured him. Than Quil got an evil grin on his face,

"Embry, should I go tell Jake that he has some competition?" Once the words were out of his mouth, Embry released me and backed away a good three feet. Embry replied at the same time I said,

"What?"

"You wouldn't." Quil was smiling brightly, but the smile got wiped off when Claire glared at him.

"Bravo, Quil." Claire snapped.

"What is that suppose to mean?" I asked, annoyed. They had better tell me what was going on or I think I might explode. I already knew they were hiding something from me, but I just could not figure it out. My head was starting to hurt. Quil looked at me and smiled, "It was a joke, Serena. Can't you take a joke?" he asked, comically. I snorted and started to look around. My eyes stopped on a sitting familiar silhouette. His back was facing me and he was sitting on the edge of a small cliff. I glared at Quil and started walking towards Jacob with my chin in the air. I heard Claire's voice behind me,

"So, Embry. Doesn't she look like a babe?" She teased, but I also heard pride in her voice. I almost laughed. When I was only two feet away from Jacob, I slowed my steps. I was suddenly terrified. Adrenaline pulsed through my veins and than what seemed like forever, I finally reached him, and sat down beside him, casually. I was so close to him, I could feel the heat radiating off of his body and I could smell the scent of him. Man, did he smell good, though. I quickly blocked the thought out.

"Hey, Jacob." I said in the softest voice I could muster. Jacob turned to me with a

surprised expression, than his expression changed entirely. His face squinted up into what looked like pain, but I was not sure because it suddenly shifted again. It looked like he was having a war go on his head. I suddenly had the urge to get rid of that expression; I wanted nothing more than to see his face happy and calm. I wanted to get rid of those frown lines on his beautiful face. He turned away from me and I saw his face become a mask. _Well, at least that's better than the war._ I thought, grimly. "I came to say sorry for snapping at you last night. I know you were just trying to help and . . . . I'm sorry." I said, sheepishly. He turned to me and I almost saw the mask crack,

"You don't have to be sorry." I squinted up at him, and I almost saw him smile, but he pulled it back down easily.

"Why not?" He shrugged, and looked away again.

"You just don't."

"Well, it doesn't matter because I am sorry."

"Don't be."

"But I want to be. I snapped at you and I was rude and I'm sorry." Jacob turned to face me again; his mouth was starting to curl upwards. I leaned backwards onto my palms.

"I wish you would stop saying that."

"Well, Jacob I've got news for you: wishes rarely come true." He chuckled, grimly.

"I think I know that news more than you." He turned away again and than just as quickly turned back. He was staring at me with such intensity, I felt my cheeks warm and I quickly broke the gaze. He chuckled, than his mood changed completely. He frowned and his face went back to being a mask. He abruptly stood up,

"I have to go." He said, dryly. And I stared at him in shock as I watched him once again walk away from me. I wanted to throw something after him because what happened next was a surprise; tears started to well up in my eyes as dejection washed over me and I could do nothing but tilt my head up towards the sky and hope none came falling out.

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	10. Information and Drinking

**hello.** **Here is chapter 10!**!! **hope you enjoy. **

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After millions of questions and having to make numerous excuses, I was finally able to leave the beach. Claire told me I could keep the clothes and I was grateful; I did not feel like walking back to Claire's to get my clothes. That would have required Claire or somebody to come with me which would have required me having to talk and I did not feel like talking to anybody at the moment. I was hurt, confused, and annoyed. I walked through the woods with my arms crossed; pondering on what I should do. About what? Exactly, I had no clue. I did not know how to get rid of my feelings. This bugged me to no end. I walked and walked until I was sure nobody would be able to find me unless I wanted them too. Maybe I could go through each of my situations that were causing my emotions to bounce around inside me. Okay first emotion: hurt, dejection, pain, and confusion. That was my reaction to Jacob Black. I did not want to think about him right now it would just make me more frustrated than I already was. I pushed him out of my head, but of course he did not go too far. My mind always rounded back to him; it was like a slide show that has a major malfunction and keeps changing back to the first slide. Second situation: people were hiding something from me. That's good, I'll try to ponder that one, but the only clue I had was Jacob and I had already refused to not think about him, so next emotion: Worry; my brother. Uh. My worry was not as bad as before, which I was grateful, but it seemed to grow a little after Tristan healed me. Another good thing that I was alone: if I had another mental breakdown; I certainly did not want anyone to see it. I probably would not be able to stop my worry until I had looked throughout that library, but I refused to go home. Finally I noticed my legs were beginning to become numb and weak, so I gave in and sat down near a tree. I came to a conclusion the minute I sat down, the only thing I could do at the moment. I let my emotions overtake me; they crashed over me like a wave, and than, I started to cry. I cried until the sun went down and I was covered in darkness.

A week had passed since the day at the beach. I had not seen Jacob in a week. I stayed home most of my time; too stubborn to admit I would like to see him again and than too scared to admit it either. As for the rest of them, I went to Emily and Claire's houses often, sometimes even Embry and Quil's. Some stuff had changed since a week ago, like Jacob had corrupted my mind for as far as I could tell and I was dying to talk to him again to see him again, but like I said; I was too stubborn to actually give in to my feelings and go find him. And now, I had grown so use to my brother's constant companion that whenever I saw him alone the sight looked strange; wrong. My sisters were being quiet about my brother's relationship and I was grateful. Quil and Embry told me all about the 'wolf' traits, like how they are always hot, how they can read each others minds when they phase, why they get so huge, and how they do not age as long as they keep phasing. My mother finally took the guards away and I could roam wherever I pleased without sneaking out. It was Monday morning and I was walking with Emma to class. We had just reached the outside of the palace wall, when she turned to me,

"You are doing it again." She told me, frustratingly. I turned to her,

"Doing what?"

"Going off into space; your eyes glaze over and you can't even hear me when I talk to you anymore." She said, scathingly.

"Sorry. I have a lot on my mind." Emma was looking at me with concern and I wished she would stop.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Of course." She went on like she did not even hear me,

"I mean, we are all worried about the Tristan thing, but Serena it really is not that bad of a situation." Sure. You are not the one who goes into a hidden library every night to find some information about becoming immortal. And have another load of disappointment and more worry toppled onto your shoulders when you find nothing. That is what I would like to say to her, but I don't.

"I'm fine." I told her. Emma narrows her eyes at me and is about to say something else, when we see Kaye walking up towards us with obvious impatience.

"I'm so happy I found you." She said. Emma's attention was drawn elsewhere,

"What has got you so cheerful this morning?" Emma asked her,

"I would not call it cheerful, but anyway. Guess what I found out?" She said excitedly.

"What?" Emma and I ask,

"Well, do you know the new dressmaker?" Emma and I gave her knowing looks: of course we know who the Dressmaker was; Kaye continued unpaved, "Well, our Royal Dressmaker is Donella's aunt." She chirped. Emma started laughing,

"You have got to be kidding?" she said,

"Well, you can kind of actually see the family resemblance." I stated. "Does Danielle know?" I asked. Kaye smiled,

"Of course she does and she is pretty peeved about it too." Kaye answered. Once we reached the Class building, Kaye turned to go to her age group,

"See you soon." She called as she made her way inside the large brown building. Since Emma and I were close in age we did not have to part so soon, which gave Emma more time to ask me more questions,

"You would talk to me if you had any issues, right?" she asked as we walked down a small rocky path, passing other elves along the way. The royals never usually talked to the other elves. Sometimes, but rarely. It's not that we did not like the others or that we thought we were better; it was sort of like a clique type situation.

"Of course I would, but there is nothing to talk about." I told her reassuringly. She looked at my face for a while than quickly nodded, "See you later." She waved goodbye as our path split into a fork.

"Bye." I said as I made my way inside the brown building. As soon as the three hours of class was over a rushed out of the room with the other elves, I did not bother to stop and look for my sisters like I usually did, I just kept walking back to the palace. I was back inside in only a few minutes and I hurriedly made my way to my father's study. I had already explained to Tristan about Kaye showing me the library and he asked no further questions about it. I was almost there when I saw someone walking towards me. I almost groaned out loud when I saw who it was; Takan. He was my mother's Royal Advisor and I hated him more than anybody on this earth. He was slim, tall and had deathly black eyes; not at all like Jacob's. He also had long black hair down to his lower back and he gave me the creeps. And even to make the situation more comical or worse, he did not appear to like me either. He was two feet away from me when he met my gaze and smiled wickedly. I glared at him. I was almost about to groan again when he opened his mouth to speak as he passed,

"Serena," I reluctantly stopped walking and turned to face him, "there is something I am meaning to talk to you about." He was looking at me with amusement and when he did not speak anymore I said,

"What?" his grin widened,

"I have been getting news from anonymous subjects that you and a certain brother have been sneaking off late at night and not returning until late into the morning." I froze, "It may be none of my bus-." I cut him off,

"It isn't" He stared at me sternly,

"I would like you to tell me where you have been going." His voice was cold, hard, threatening.

"And if I don't." I challenged, he laughed,

"Actually it honestly does not matter because I will find out and so will your mother, I will have to tell her about this if you are ever to do it again. You know very well elves are not allowed to leave the kingdom." I glared at him, "especially a crowned prince." Anger hit me hard and an open door slammed shut near-by,

"Leave me alone and get out of my way, Takan." I hissed as I pushed him aside and started once again towards my father's study. I heard his laughter behind me and flinched,

"I would be careful, Princess." I heard him say, I did not even bother to turn around to even see what that comment meant. "So much anger and power could get you into trouble very easily," again I did not turn around, kept walking, his voice was starting to fade, "especially if someone is trying to take it from you." I stopped and whooped around,

"What?" I asked, but Takan had disappeared. I muttered a curse. _Great. Something else to worry about._ I thought as I started walking again. Was that supposed to be a warning? A threat? Or maybe it was both. I cursed again as I ran up the flight of stairs, through the door, and into my father's study. I knocked on the blank wall three times and as expected the wall slid open. Tristan was sitting at the round table, reading. He looked up at me from the book and smiled,

"Come see what I found!" he called. I quickly went to his side and leaned over his shoulder to see what he was reading. Tristan closed the book and shook his finger up at me, "Nope. I want to tell you myself."

"Tell me!" I said, impatiently. He grinned,

"Okay, I found out the only way for me to become mortal is if . . . well. . ."

"Spit it out, Tristan!"

"If a mortal sleeps with an immortal." He muttered. His face was turning bright red and I had to laugh,

"I'm sorry. I don't think I heard you correctly. Can you repeat that?" I teased. Tristan's hand flew to smack me but I quickly dodged out of its way,

"Shut it." He muttered. I laughed,

"That is interesting news, Tristan, but not actually something to get excited about. I thought we were looking up ways to make _her_ _immortal._"

"Well, if you would let me finish. . ." Tristan trailed off as he gave me an irritated look,

"Fine. Fine. Tell me the rest." I sat down and actually felt myself jumping up and down.

"Okay, I found two ways for Leah to become immortal, but I'm sure there are other ways, I'm just not looking hard enough." I started tapping my foot with impatience as I listened to his ramble. "And well the first one was about some sort of poison, but instead of killing you it does the opposite and it says there are certain ways to drink it and all this complicated stuff. I don't like that idea because if she makes the slightest mistake, she would die." Tristan's face had contorted in worry and fear for just considering it,

"Go on, tell me the other idea." I prompted, he grinned,

"Well according to this book," he raised the book up, "It says the queen always has the power to turn a mortal into an immortal; but she can only do it once." I stared at him; finally I rose up my hands; palms upward and weighed out the choices,

"Hmmm, let's see. Tell mother or drink a highly dangerous poison...I'd go with the poison if I was you." I told him. Tristan shook his head at me,

"I think it is time I told mother."

"Wait! Tristan if you tell her, she will probably will not let me go back to see any of them. There would be extra security surrounding me; watching me. Do not tell her just yet, please." He laughed,

"Or I could just not mention you at all," I smiled as that answer hit me than I sighed in relief.

"I knew there was a very good reason I loved you. But could you wait for at least another week before breaking it to her?" I asked, Tristan looked at me suspiciously before answering,

"Sure. But only a week." I nodded in agreement. Than I remembered my earlier conversation with Takan,

"Tristan, someone has been watching us leave the palace and that someone told Takan." Tristan stared at me for a moment than muttered a curse, "Tristan, what are we going to do?"

"How do you know Takan knows?"

"Because he practically threatened me on my way up here. Oh and he said something about someone trying to steal my magic. Can someone actually do that?" I looked at Tristan, questioningly. His face had contorted into anger,

"I do not know, but I'm sure there are ways. I think I should keep an eye on Takan, I never liked him, you know." I snorted,

"Neither do I."

"And if Takan is watching us than maybe we should not leave the palace for a while."

"A while? Tristan, no! It's already been a week and I still haven't seen-." I stopped myself and felt the blush work its way to my cheeks as I realized what I had just almost said. Tristan was watching me suspiciously again. I grinned, "Couldn't we just be more careful, please?" Tristan narrowed his eyes at me before saying,

"Fine." My heart was pounding in my chest and I could not get it to stop; the butterflies had also returned, _great. Now I get butterflies when I even think his name. Pathetic. _I smiled at Tristan,

"I think I'm going to go to sleep now. Night." I could feel Tristan's eyes on the back of my head as I quickly went towards the open wall.

As I made my way to my room, a decision popped into my head: I am going to Emily's house. And so that is what I did. I quickly went in search for Claire's jeans; I found them in one of my drawers and led them down on my bed. Than an idea came to my head which caused me to walk into my front room towards my closet. I searched through my gowns, dresses, and skirts until I found my least favorite dress. It was light blue and looked like just a normal plain dress with long sleeves that reached the knuckles on my hand. I ran back to my bedroom and threw the blue dress on my bed next to the jeans. I started looking for something sharp, like a knife or something in that range. I was frantically looking through all my drawers and shelves when I heard a noise in my front room. _Tania!_ I ran to my front room and stopped beside Tania. She looked up at me from the pillow cushion she was picking up; he face was surprised,

"Yes, my lady?"

"I need a knife or a razor or a fabric cutter." Tania was looking at me funny,

"A fabric cutter, my lady?" I nodded, hastily.

She sighed and dropped the cushion she was holding and walked out the door. A few minutes later she was back holding a pair of scissors. _Scissors! Why hadn't I thought of that? _She handed them to me with a suspicious look. I smiled and kissed her on the cheek,

"Thank you!" I called over my shoulder as I ran back to my bed.

I grabbed the blue dress and started cutting near the waist line and started ripping some of the many fabrics off of the top until it was thin. When I was done, the blue dress was now a resemblance of Claire's shirt except it had long sleeves and the rest of the dress was strewn all over my bedroom in multiple light blue shreds. _I would make an excellent human clothes maker._ I mused as I slipped on the jeans and newly made top. I walked down the hall and hid behind a column while sticking just my head out,

"Tania," I called. She stopped picking at the cushion and turned towards me, "I'm tired. I'm going to retire for the night." I told her. She nodded,

"Good night." She replied. I backed away from the column and quickly went back to my bedroom and locked the door. I snuck out through the secret passage ways, silently hoping no one saw me as I ran into the cover of trees.

I opened Emily's door and walked inside. Emily was behind the counter cooking; she looked up and smiled when she heard the door open. She had a big sweatshirt on and I assumed baggy sweatpants; which was her usual outfit since last week. I asked her once why she started wearing baggy clothes and she told me they were comfortable. I walked over to her and sat down on the stool across from her,

"What are you making?"

"Soup for Sam, Quil, and Jared." She said as she turned away from me towards the stove. Than she added, "they're outside looking at the fence. Sam is thinking of putting up a new one."

"Where are the rest of them?"

"On patrol, I guess."

"Is Claire coming over since Quil is here?" before Emily could respond, I heard another voice behind me,

"No. She has exams to study for." I jumped half way off my stool and screamed; Quil caught me before I hit hard ground. Emily was trying not to laugh; I glared at her.

"Gosh, Quil! You could have given me some warning or at least made more damn noise!" I scowled at him, Quil only shrugged, than walked over to Emily's side and leaned on the counter top. When I got myself situated on the stool again, I turned to Quil, "So, why aren't you with her?" I asked. Quil rolled his eyes and replied,

"She thinks I'm a distraction." I laughed, but Quil looked put out by the situation. Jared walked in from the back door and sighed with frustration at Emily,

"Your husband is a complete nut!" he exclaimed at her, Emily smiled, but did not reply. Jared came to stand next to Quil and sagged onto the counter, "I just spoke to the others and they said they're coming over in a bit to talk to Sam about the sightings." Emily whirled around in disgust,

"You phased in my backyard _again_?!?!" she screamed at him as she started walking toward the back door while ranting, "I swear Jared if you messed up any more of my plants, I'm gunna. . . !"

"Chill, Em. I used a phone this time." He told her as he pulled a small black rectangle out of his pocket. Emily sighed in relief than walked back into her kitchen; she barely had any space to move around now that two werewolves were in it with her; Emily seemed to have noticed this too because she later exclaimed,

"Would you two please . . . get out of my kitchen!" I started laughing as Jared and Quil sagged their shoulders and came to stand beside me.

"So. . ." I said, trying to start a conversation. "What are sightings?" I asked. Before Jared or Quil could answer, Emily did.

"Sightings are when they find a vampire or sniff one or whatever it is werewolves do," Emily started shaking her head. "I swear if anyone ever heard most of our conversations they would send us to the nut house." She commented in exasperation, "oh boy . . . my life could honestly be a crazy reality show or better yet . . . I could write a book about my life and no one would ever get bored!" we stared at her for a while, than I said,

"It probably could." I told her, Emily laughed hysterically, than Sam appeared in the doorway,

"Hey!" he called. Emily jumped and splattered her soup spoon all over the counter, she groaned in frustration,

"Great, Sam! Just great!" Emily told him. Sam started to get a towel,

"I'll get it, Emily."

"No you won't. I will." She grabbed the towel form his hand and started cleaning the soup. Sam was staring at her with confusion on his face; I'm pretty sure everybody's expression mimicked Sam's. Jared spoke up after she was done,

"Uh . . . why so tense tonight, Emily?"

"I'm not tense." She snapped, Sam was slowly backing out of the kitchen.

"I think I'm going to go take a quick shower before dinner." Emily looked up at him,

"You do that." She said. Sam gave her a quick kiss on the head and than retreated like he had just set spark to a bomb, and disappeared down the hallway. I exchanged glances with Quil and than Jared went on explaining the answer to my question,

"Well . . . these sightings have been weird because I mean they aren't feeding on any humans and sometimes we see them just standing there like they are watching something or on guard. And there are at least three that keep doing this same thing."

"Watching something?" I asked. Jared nodded,

"Everyone is coming over tonight to talk about it and we are probably going to figure out what to do."

"This whole 'hunting down vampires' life style would be so much easier if the darn creatures had no brains." Quil commented. I looked up at him and smiled,

"Where would the fun be than if you could catch them easily?" I teased. Quil looked like he was thinking about it than replied,

"You're right. There wouldn't be any fun."

"So . . . Is Jacob coming too?" I asked, trying to sound casual. Emily stopped stirring her pot and turned to stare at me. Jared and Quil were staring at me too. "What?" I asked. Emily smirked than said,

"Yeah, I guess he is. Are you staying for dinner, Serena?" she asked. I shrugged,

"Only if I'm welcome." I replied. Emily's eyes narrowed and I felt my cheeks grow warm. _Did she know? How could she know I liked him?_ I started to panic and smiled at Emily. Emily looked up at Jared and Quil,

"You two go watch T.V or go in the backyard while I talk to Serena." She said. They obediently walked out of the room towards the back door. As Quil passed me, he gave me a nudge in the back. Emily stared at me for a while before saying, "Do you like Jacob?" I knew the answer, but I was too surprised by the direct question that I did not answer correctly,

"What?" I said.

"Do you like him?" she asked again, I opened my mouth but nothing came out. Maybe if I admitted it, the attraction would go away. But what if I did admit it and the feelings became more strong and pronounced. I shook my head at Emily, who narrowed her eyes at me. I shrugged, when I got my voice back and said,

"Besides, even if I did like him, it seems like he hates me." Emily smirked than muttered,

"He can't hate you."

"What?"

"I said '_he cannot hate you_'." I stared at her in confusion. _What in heaven's name does that mean? Of course he can hate me, unless he was under some ridiculous spell where he could not hate anybody. That would be quite funny, actually. _I was rambling on in my head when Emily sighed in frustration. I looked at her and her face was contorted in indecision. She turned her head towards the hallway than back at me and sighed, "I'm so going to get into trouble about this, but. . . Jacob imprinted on you." At first I did not comprehend what she said, but than the words seeped into my body; making my skin and bones feel hot.

"No he didn't" I whispered. Emily shook her head at me,

"He did." She told me as she moved around to my side of the counter.

"No." I said more firmly. "You can_not_ imprint on someone and be so _cold_."

"Jacob is kind of a difficult situation, but he did imprint on you. He loves you, but you just need to wait until he comes around and -." I cut her off,

"_Wait_?" I exclaimed, "You expect me to wait until he '_comes around_'?" Too many emotions to deal with, I could feel I was on the edge of another breakdown. "Don't I get a choice in all of this? What if I don't _want_ Jacob?!?" I could tell my voice was rising higher than I wanted it too, but I could not help it. Jared and Quil walked inside to watch the spectacle. I was up off the stool by now, "This is not happening. Jacob _hates_ me. He obviously does not want to be imprinted to me!" I do not know why this information sent chills throughout my body. I could tell that this was not what usually happened with imprint situations by the looks on Emily, Quil, and Jared's faces. Jared and Quil probably accepted it right away, not even giving it a second thought, but Jacob must hate the idea of imprinting on me so much, and he is trying to ignore it. Well, I was certainly not going to wait around for him to decide if he wants to be imprinted to me or not. I have a choice. I did. If he wanted to deny it, so could I.

"It's more complicated than that, Serena." Emily told me, calmly. I heard the front door squeak open as I stated,

"I'm leaving." I looked towards the door and felt the familiar butterflies fly into my stomach as I saw who it was. Jacob stood before me, shirtless with just a pair of sweatpants on. I felt my cheeks warm and diverted my vision to the floor before I could loose anymore of my sanity than I already had. I started walking towards the door in which I would happily tell Jacob to move out of my way, but before I could, I tripped. Before I hit the ground, Jacob caught me and pulled me into his bare chest. I was angry and annoyed and now I was hot and I could not breathe and it had nothing to do with the fact that I was being practically squeezed. The smell of him drifted into my lungs and I could not think straight. I had to get out of this house before I forgot why I was mad and why I could not handle this at the moment, but than I realized it would not be so bad just to forget about everything and just focus on the beautiful human that was holding me in his arms. Jacob leaned forward and I almost thought he was coming to kiss me; my head spun just from the thought.

"You okay?" he asked. I shook my head, trying to scramble away from the heat of him. Jacob steadied me than released his hold. I staggered toward the door without looking back. Once I got outside, I started to run. I was thankful I had pants on because this would have been difficult. I ran through the trees towards my home, I ran through the secret passage way to my room. I ran out of my rooms, down the dark hallway to the kitchens. I ran towards the kitchen's basement and flew down the stairs. I ran until I came to the drink's storage room and fell on a heap on the floor and grabbed the first bottle of fairy wine I saw.

I have never been drunk before or even taken a sip of wine before, but I was guessing I was drunk on how everything felt numb and I was not thinking coherently. _Jacob imprinted on me_, I mused to myself and than I started laughing. Why should I be upset about this, I mean Jacob loved me and only me. This could be fun. Without deciding, I slowly got up and wobbled towards the stairs, accidentally knocking down some wine glasses in the process. I was amazed on how I succeeded in getting outside again. It started to drizzle as I started to walk towards La Push. I fell a few times because of the fact I was clumsy and apparently drunk. I started to laugh again. If only my mother and sisters saw me right at this moment. They would probably faint right on the spot. I laughed again. As I got deeper into the forest I could not feel the rain anymore; the trees were blocking the raindrops entrée. The trees were also blocking moonlight as well, but I just made some light appear and moved onward. I saw the trees start thinning out up ahead and realized the rain would probably hit me again, but I did not stop, I kept going. _Where was I going, exactly?_ I thought to myself. I honestly had no clue, my feet felt like they had a mind of their own. I felt the rain hit my shoulders and knew that the reservation was not far up. The street came into sight and a darted across the road onto the sidewalk and started walking again; the rain fell harder, but I paid no mind to it. I was passing up houses and some small buildings and I started to wonder where I was, than something familiar came into view. Embry once told me what this building was and also told me Jacob lived there. Maybe that was where I was going; to Jacob. An apartment building, that's what it was. My feet had finally come to a stop and I noticed they were throbbing in protest. _Well, you are the ones who brought me here,_ I scolded at them. _Great, I'm talking to my feet. Next I'll be talking to my hands._ I thought. And than I saw him, he was standing right outside of a door, watching me. No rain was hitting him and than I noticed I was drenched; the rain was falling a lot harder than earlier. He was still wearing the sweatpants, but he had put a black t-shirt on. The rain was starting to blur my vision and I quickly moved closer to get a clear view. He did not move while I approached. I stopped two feet away, still getting hit by the pounding raindrops, and looked up at him. I suddenly wanted nothing more than to touch him, to hold him, or kiss him. I stared at him for a while and I concluded there was no way I was going to be able to reach his lips without at least _some_ of his help. But that did not mean I could not kiss him. I crossed the distance between us and started kissing anything I could reach. Jacob jumped back in surprise,

"Serena! What are you-." He grabbed my shoulders and easily pulled me back, "what are you doing?" I stared up at him in confusion and blinked in surprise,

"Don't . . . Don't you. . . .Don't you want me?" I asked. His gaze made me want to kiss him _so bad._ And when he did not answer I made to do just that, but he just gripped my shoulders harder.

"No, Serena." His voice was unsteady; and I suddenly saw longing in his eyes, but maybe it was my imagination. He slid his hands from my shoulders. I backed away from him into the rain again,

"But you're supposed to." I told him. He stared at me in astonishment, "kiss me." I moved towards him again, but he quickly gripped my upper arms holding me back. His expression looked like he was having a war go on in his head again and I suddenly realized what that war must be. I wanted to tell him he was pathetic and that kissing me would not harm him in the least.

"You're drunk." He finally said,

"I am not!" I protested.

"Yes you are." He told me, I pulled myself out of his grip only to move closer, but I did not move to kiss him again, instead I glared up at him,

"You are ridiculous." I spat at him. Jacob sighed than grabbed my arm,

"Come on. I'm taking you to Emily's." he started to pull me towards- I noticed

automatically- a car. I tried to wiggle my way out of his grip.

"I do not want to go to Emily's! Let me go!" I was upset, why couldn't he just kiss me? Jacob did not let go, he pulled me towards the car until I finally started screaming at him again, "There is something incredibly wrong with you!" I told him. I heard Jacob chuckle, than he turned around to face me,

"I know." He stated. He stared at me with the weirdest expression; the expression I have been dying to get a full view of. The look gave me goose bumps,

"Stop looking at me like that." I told him, he smiled than opened the car door for me,

"Get in." I stared at the open seat and suddenly felt something uneasy in my stomach and to my horror it was working its way up to my mouth. I quickly turned around just in time to retch onto the pavement. I wiped my mouth as I turned around and noticed Jacob had his arm wrapped around my waste and was pulling strands of wet hair out of my face. He was talking to me, but I couldn't comprehend what he was saying. I felt dizzy and unsteady; I probably would have fallen if Jacob was not holding on to me. Jacob seemed to have noticed this too because his grip became tighter. I looked up at him,

"I don't feel good." I told him as I felt my eyelids flutter than closed completely. and than I passed out.

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**Did you lik it? if so please review. Next chapter will be up pretty soon. i have to put it up soon because i need to type or i'll probably forget. **

**reviews please[:**


	11. JPOV

**JACOB'S POINT OF VIEW!!!!!**

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I carried her into Sam and Emily's house. She lay unconscious in my arms. She looked so frail and small; I felt like I was carrying some sort of valuable doll. Emily had rushed to me in an instant, asking me all kinds of questions, but all I could do was place the gorgeous creature I was carrying on the couch and go retrieve a blanket. As I placed the blanket around her, I noticed that only one side of her hair was dry and I smiled to myself as I looked down at my shirt; it was soaked. _Well at least she was semi-dry,_ I thought wryly. I kissed her head, not able to stop myself and turned to the frantic Emily,

"Watch her until I get back." Emily was staring at me with wide eyes as I ran out of the house into the drizzle; I phased.

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I walked back into Emily's house a few hours later. Sam was in the kitchen, putting away the dishes while Emily was sitting on the arm chair, watching him. Serena was bundled up on the couch her eyes closed. The door clicked shut and they both looked up at me. Emily sprang out of the chair,

"Where have you been!?! You were gone for _three_ _hours_, Jake!" I ignored her question and walked over to the couch and squatted down next to it; facing Serena.

"Has she woken up?" I asked as I traced the features on her face with my index finger. Emily threw her hands up in the air, but Sam was the one who answered.

"Once. She said her head hurt than went back to sleep." Sam was smiling, idiotically. I gave him a questioning look than I turned my attention back to Serena. "It was kind of rude, actually. I made her ice cream and everything and she just went right back to sleep." I chuckled. Sam came walking over and sat in the arm chair, looking quite excited and way too happy. But I just figured it was because of me and Serena.

"So Jake, have you given up yet?" Emily's voice was somewhere above me. I looked up at her and was about to respond when something soft and warm wrapped around my hand. I turned my head back around and saw Serena had wrapped her tiny hands around _my_ hand and wrist; her cheek rested on my fingers while her slightly-parted lips were on my knuckles. I could feel her warm breathe on my hand and it felt amazing. The contrast between her snow-white hand and my brown hand was the strangest thing, but at the same time fit for each other. She literally looked like a sleeping angel. Her hair was now fully dry and her long curls fanned out around her face. I desperately wanted to take a picture, but could not move. Not because she was grasping my hand - I knew I could physically pull away from her with ease- but, the fact that I could not leave; I wanted to stay in this position forever. Maybe even watch as she opened those amazing violet eyes and see her smile. Serena pulled me out of my dreams about her by saying something. At first I was not sure if that was actually what she said, but than she said it again,

"Jacob." she whispered. It was barely audible, but I heard it nonetheless.

"Jacob?" I looked up and saw Emily staring at me; beaming. "Sam and I are going to sleep, it's late. Can I assume that you are staying over tonight?" I nodded, "and can I trust that you will take care of her?" I nodded again,

"With my life." I vowed. Sam was already up waiting for Emily at the end of the hall. I watched as she went to meet him; Sam wrapped his arm around her waist and placed his hand on her stomach as they entered their room. I looked back at Serena, whose grip had loosened a little. I kissed her hair and freed my hand. I walked over to sit on the arm chair and watched as she shifted slightly on the couch. As I ran my fingers through my hair I heard her say my name again. I looked up and saw she was moving slightly. I waited. . . .But she did not repeat it and she stopped moving completely; the only movement I could see was her chest moving up and down. I smiled as I realized maybe it would not be so bad if I just. . . . Gave in.

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**this i think is my shortest chapter. **

**i have bad news, i might not be able to update for a while, not long but for a while. i'm having location issues again. So i hope you liked this chapter. i know i did not explain Jacob's mind that well, but just to give you some insight of what is going on and i thought the whole jpov thing would be funn. **

**i'll update as soon as i can! reviews, please! (:**


	12. Confession

**extremely long chapter!**

**i am extremely happy right now b/c my second ****favorite story's author is back! i know yall might not care as much as me but if any of you are looking for a amazing Quil and Claire story:**

**Kind of since forever. **

**That is the name. Go read it. I promise it is amazing.**

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I let my eyes blink a few times before I opened them completely. I took in my surroundings: I was on a couch, Emily's couch, and I was bundled up in a blue and white patterned quilt. The first time I woke up, I went right back to sleep because I was exhausted and I wanted to sleep that stupid headache off. I am _never_ drinking again. Never. I did not like the feeling at all. I did not even know how I got on this couch, but I had a clue. I turned my head a little bit to look at the other side of the living room. What I saw was a shock; Jacob was there, sleeping in an armchair. His eyes were heavily closed and his head was resting on the back of the cushioned chair, making his black hair fall a little bit over his eyelids. I smiled at the sight. He looked cute. I heard bustling going on in the kitchen behind me. I was about to get up out of my warm cocoon when the door flew open and in stepped a very angry looking brother. Jacob had flown up from the chair when the door hit the wall. I immediately closed my eyes, trying to avoid my brother's furious face. Maybe if he thought I was asleep, I would not get publicly screamed at until later. I tried the best I could to stay still with my eyes closed and look peaceful.

"Where is she?" I heard my brother's voice bellow. I could actually picture his light blue eyes turning a deep blue.

"Shhhhh." I heard Emily say from behind me. "She's sleeping."

"Sleeping?!?" my brother's voice went up a pitch. "Like I care." He hissed. I could hear him starting to walk towards where I was laying. At the same time I could feel someone's presence quickly appear above me. It was extremely hard not to open my eyes and see who was standing over me. My brother's footsteps slowed a little but he was still coming. I could already picture him shaking me roughly until I opened my eyes. But than Emily saved me,

"Yes." Emily's voice was hard. "I heard she had a long night last night, so if you don't mind, I would appreciate it if you were just a little bit more quiet." He had stopped walking,

"_She _had a long night? What about the fact that _I_ was up all night looking for a sister who has no consideration for people who might notice her _missing from her room_ without any note or message saying where she had gone. _All night." _My brother's voice had grown immediately concerned and worried and I instantly felt guilty. Oh no, if Tristan was looking for me that most certainly meant there was another searching party festival going on in the woods looking for me too. Great. I was in so much trouble. My mom probably already had glass bars keeping me locked in my room for all eternity. I flinched at the thought.

"Hey, I'll make you a deal." Emily's voice had grown soft, "when she wakes up, I'll call Leah and she will tell you and you can come run over and scream and shout as much as you want, but for now let her sleep." _Thank you, Emily. _I thought sarcastically. She just gave my brother permission to verbally abuse me. And if I knew Tristan, he would scream at me until he thought I had 'learned my lesson'. I almost groaned out loud. I new voice spoke up,

"Yea, Tristan. Let her sleep. I mean it would not be much fun if you yelled at her while she's not even coherent." Leah told him. I could picture my brother's jaw setting,

"Fine." He said through, what I could tell was gritted teeth. I heard more footsteps against the wood than the door closed with a sharp bang. I heard Emily sigh, than felt the presence above me move in closer. I could not tell if this was my imagination or not but I could at that moment feel heat rays pouring over me, like I was being pushed into a sun waterfall or something like that.

"He's gone. You can stop pretending now." I heard Jacob's voice floating above me. I opened my eyes and they were met by two black ones,

"How did you know I was pretending?" I asked slightly annoyed. I saw him smile; I noticed he was leaning in close, I could smell him and it sent my heart into a frenzy.

"After watching you sleep for hours, I kind of can tell the difference between the two." My heart skipped a beat._ Jacob had been watching me sleep,_ I thought as I felt my lips start to curl upwards than I quickly pushed them back down,

"What was I doing different?" I asked, trying to ignore the comment about watching me. Jacob rose to his full height and I felt myself go into a sitting position. He shrugged,

"You were breathing way too fast," he commented. I wrapped the quilt around me and stared up at him. Than I heard a clearing of the throat behind me, I turned to see Emily staring at us both, impassively. Emily looked like she was about to burst when Sam, Paul, and Embry flew through the front door. Sam's face was troubled and worry lines creased his forehead as he went to stand next to his beloved Emily. I turned to look at Embry whose face was hard with worry also, but when he met my gaze, he smiled and winked. I smiled back.

"Paul, go call the others." Sam ordered. Paul gave one swift nod before disappearing out the front door. "Jake, Embry, take a seat." Jacob sat beside me on the couch, while Embry came to sit on the arm. Jacob was so close I could feel the heat of him and I was beginning to love it. I had the urge to shift closer to him, but decided this might not be the best of times to snuggle up to Jacob. So I tried very hard to stop fidgeting and stay still.

"What happened?" Emily asked Sam, her voice soft, but behind the soft layer I heard the slightest amount of panic. Sam seemed to have noticed too as he let out a huge sigh and turned to give her a reassuring smile,

"Nothing we can't handle." He replied. Emily gave him a long stare than sighed and walked towards the kitchen and sat down on a stool. A few minutes of us sitting at Emily's house and Sam pacing back and forth, the door finally opened and six figures piled into the small living room. I scooted over on the couch to give Quil some room and also I was able to give Jacob a slight push. Out of these six figures was also my dear brother. He was standing among them looking puzzled than he caught my gaze and his eyes narrowed. I gave a sheepish grin and quickly turned my attention to Sam.

"It's getting worse." He stated. His words seemed to be directed to Jacob and Emily. I saw Jacob's face harden but other than that he made no sign to interrupt. "We are going to have to double our shifts." Sam let out a huge sigh. "We killed two this morning."

"You guys went out without me?" Jacob asked annoyance and shock creeping into his throat.

"You were tired, Jake. We wanted you to sleep for a while." Embry reassured him, cheerfully.

"Oh and the rest of you aren't?" Jacob responded sarcastically. Embry just shrugged. "Next time this happens, wake me up." Jacob stated, sternly. Sam nodded.

"Geez, try to do a guy a favor. . ." I heard Quil mumble beside me. I laughed. Jacob turned towards me and I quickly stopped but kept the grin on my face.

"Yea, but these were different . . . they were like super-charged up vampires . . . it was weird." Paul said. Seth gave him a piercing look,

"Yea, I mean compared to _all_ the other super-fast vampires, this one was so much _faster_." Seth responded sarcastically.

"It was!" Paul shouted in a rage. Seth made a noise that sounded like a cross between a snort and a laugh,

"Humph. Okay." Seth replied. Paul was starting to shake lightly. Not so much as to make one think it was strange, but it probably would make people think he had an anger-management problem.

"Guys! Can we please talk about what we are going to do about them all?" Sam said in frustration, and than he added, smoothly "Calm down, Paul."

"To tell you the truth Sam, I honestly don't think this is that bad. I mean, sure we'll double our shifts but they haven't attacked anyone or done anything reasonably horrible yet. So. . ."Embry's voice trailed off.

"I agree with Embry." Jared spoke up.

"Yes, but what happens when they do attack someone?" Sam replied. "We have to be prepared."

"Prepared? We are as prepared as we're going to get." Embry answered with a snort.

"Serena and I could help, if we are welcome to." Tristan said. I turned towards him just as everybody else did as well.

"We could?" I asked. Tristan gazed at me with stern eyes, and I quickly responded, "Yes, I guess we could."

"I don't like that idea." Jacob commented. I looked up at Jacob and was surprised when our eyes met. I held his gaze,

"I'm sorry that I have to say I disagree with you, Jacob."

"I don't think that is such a good idea either." Emily's voice broke through the other small conversations that have roused up. I turned to stare at her in disbelief,

"And why not?" I asked,

"You might get hurt." She stated, "Both of you." She added hastily as she turned towards Tristan. Tristan was grinning, wickedly.

"Ha! Like that is even remotely possible." I told them all. "No one can hurt me." I said, smiling with pride. Out of them all, Sam, Jared, and Seth seemed to be the only ones who believed me. Well, they were the ones who actually witnessed me kill three vampires right before their eyes.

"She is correct." Tristan told them still grinning. "For Serena to even get a small scratch, it would take an army." His grin grew as he chuckled softly.

"That is such a lie!" Quil shouted out making me jump from beside him, "She had a big scrape on her knee the other week . . . and she had a bruise."

"Let me rephrase that last statement: Serena can harm _herself_ just fine, but for others it would not come easily." Tristan answered.

"See? I told you." I said, lifting my chin up. Sam stared at me for a while than nodded,

"Fine. You both can help, but just wait until I can find out more and better yet let us wait until Colin and Brady come back from New York."

"That sounds great! The more of you the better." Emily shouted from behind, obvious relief flooding her voice.

"Who?" I asked. Embry turned to smile at me,

"Werewolves on vacation." He replied. There were more of them! Wow, amazing. They all started dividing up into small groups talking amongst themselves. Jacob stayed on the couch and so did I. Everyone looked pleased with where the discussion was going except Jacob. His face was contorted in anger. I stared at him until he met my gaze,

"Why are you always so grumpy, Jacob Black?" I asked with a smile. His face came into a grin and I almost sighed with relief, but his eyes were still troubled.

"I don't like this." He said, "I don't want you going anywhere _near_ those bloodsuckers."

"Oh, please. They won't get anywhere near me without me wanting them to." I said with the wave of my hand. His face was still disbelieving. "Fine, if you won't believe me than I will just have to show you."

"What do you mean?" he asked. I grinned up at him,

"Watch." I snapped my fingers, than and everyone in the room froze. Everything had stopped. The swinging clock was left half-way in the air. The cabinet Emily had recently just swung closed had stopped mid-way. And the cushion Paul had picked up from the armchair was levitating in the air; it's pathway to Embry had stopped abruptly. Jacob stared in utter shock as he stood up and went to wave his hand slowly in front of Paul's face. Jacob circled the room before coming to stare at me. I waved up at him and he quickly returned to his place on the couch. Before he could say anything, I snapped my fingers and the world came back into motion. Jacob stared at the living room in quiet astonishment,

"How did you _do_ that?" He asked,

"It was a trick I learned when I was little, but I'm not suppose to use it . . . no one is." Jacob looked at me,

"Why?"

"It's dangerous to tamper with time; horrible things could come from it."

"So . . . how come they taught it to you?" he asked. I shrugged,

"My teacher was on a rebellious act and he decided to teach it to me,"

"How often do you use it?" I shrugged again, turning sideways on the couch, so I was facing him completely; hugging my knees.

"Not very often. This was probably the first time I've used it in years. Like I said, I'm not supposed to use it." Jacob looked away at where Quil and Jared were talking,

"Do you think they felt it?" he asked,

"No human can feel it, only powerful elves can, but even if they can feel it they would not be able to do anything about it either."

"What about your brother?" he said as he turned back to face me,

"Well, I'm guessing he did not feel it since he is not over here, fussing me over it." I told him as I quickly scanned the room for my brother. I spotted him talking to Sam, while Leah and Emily were standing close together near by. Emily was whispering something in Leah's ear and before I could react, Leah let out a high-pitched shriek. All the noise abruptly stopped and all turned to stare at Leah. The silence was so profound that all one could hear was the ticking of the clock and Leah's continuous shrieks. Leah was grinning madly as Emily slapped her on the arm,

"Sorry, guys. Just got . . . a little excited . . . sorry." Leah told us. Everybody stared at her for a while than they all went back to their small conversations. Jacob was staring at me again with that strange look on his face. I leaned back onto my hands and peered up at him,

"Tell me something."

"Tell you something? Like what?" I shrugged.

"I don't know. Anything." I told him. Jacob grinned and looked away than just as quickly looked back, but this time even closer.

"When you're mad or upset your eyes change color." He stated. I blinked up at him, letting his words sink in. I shook my head and laughed,

"No. I want to know something about you." His grin got wider,

"I'm a werewolf." He said matter-of-factly. I leaned forward and smacked him on the arm,

"Something I don't _already_ know." I said, putting mock annoyance into my tone. Jacob was quiet for a minute than said,

"_I_ think you have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen." I snorted,

"So does everybody else in this room and in my entire kingdom. Well, except for Quil, and Sam, and Jared, but . . . I think you are going to have to come up with more unique compliments." Jacob snorted,

"Picky, much?" he asked, grinning.

"Yes. Very very picky, indeed." I told him with a nod of my head. He laughed; I thrilled to the sound of it.

"Okay . . . I'll try again." He looked at me with such intensity in his eyes I thought I was surely going to melt right there on the couch. It was obvious he was trying to look for something no one else would have come up with. "Your hair looks like it's made of brown silk." I laughed out loud. Seth, who was the closet person to me at the time, jumped from my sudden outburst. Seth looked at me with a mockery of an annoyed face than quickly moved away.

"You are the . . . _fourth_ person to tell me that." I told him. I could feel that my face was lit up with this huge smile.

"Fourth? Nah, that's not so bad."

"Let me rephrase: you are the fourth person to tell me that this_ month_." He gawked at me for a while, completely frustrated by this fact, but than he quickly recovered,

"Fine, I'll try a_gain_."

After Jacob had complimented me on everything imaginable, he accomplished in telling me something no one else has complimented me on before. He told me that my skin was absolutely stunning. I think my face turned a little red, but it was weird and sweet at the same time. And the best part is while he was saying it, he had also picked up my hand and brushed his lips against the top. I think I literally stopped breathing, than it passed and he had put my hand back down, but my hand was still tingling from where his lips made contact with my translucent skin. An hour later, I'm sure it was only near noon, I was rubbing my hand against the sofa to get the tingle to go away. I think Jacob saw me because he chuckled,

"So . . . don't elves have their own language?" I nodded,

"Than how come you speak English."

"Because, Jacob Black, if I did not, you would not be able to understand a word I am saying." He laughed,

"_Can_ you speak in . . . Elfin?" I looked at him, idiotically.

"Of course I can!"

"Can I hear you say something?" he asked, sweetly. I smiled up at him,

"Nope." I could see he was frustrated even though he was not showing it all too well.

"May I ask why?" I sighed,

"Because we our forbidden to use our language." He blinked in surprise and gave me a confused expression,

"Umm . . . why?" He was grinning again and that was always good,

"I can't really explain, but I could show you again." His grin got wider,

"Okay."

"But I want you to show me something in return." I told him, sternly. His face was lit up with curiosity.

"Sure. Anything." I smiled with delight,

"Great. I want to see you in . . . wolf form." His smile faltered, but he quickly replaced it with a smirk. He got up and held out his hand for me. I took it without hesitation. I jumped when my skin touched his, and not because of some love sick reason either, but because his hand was so _hot_. It felt like I just put my hand above a lit fireplace, except this time the heat was coming from all directions; wrapping my hand in its warmth.

"Fine." He replied as he pulled me towards the red door. I glanced around the small living room, looking for anyone who noticed our leaving. I was thankful when Jacob pulled me out the front door into the sunlight with one swift motion and no one came to stop us. We walked across the street - well actually, _he_ walked, I had to partially run to keep up – and he pulled me forward into the shallow trees. He finally came to a stop by a small stream. Small pebbles broke the water's smooth surface, making the flowing water ripple and gleam in the reflected light. There were brown and orange leaves scattered all around the forest floor. I came back to reality when I felt the heat leave my hand and felt cool wind gently knock into it.

"I don't think anybody is going to pop up here randomly." Jacob reassured me, quickly glancing around. "Alright. Show me." Jacob's gaze settled on me and his black eyes looked so much different from the first time I saw them. They were more peaceful now and gentle, not cold and no hatred. I hesitated at first,

"Okay, but you need to _promise_ you will not repeat anything I say to you. Promise?"

"Promise." I took a deep breath, knowing I could trust him, and pointed to a near by branch on the autumn colored ground,

"Do you see that branch?" I asked. Jacob nodded, curiosity burning in his eyes,

"Yea."

"Watch this. . . ._Nar__." _I felt the sensation of tingling moving through my body towards my fingertips. The tingling went deeper into my body making it seem like it wanted me to use more. The amazing feeling of power swept through me in one second as the words left my mouth. I watched as the branch exploded, flames bursting from no where but inside of its core. I watched it burn for a while, than flicked my hand towards it and the fire went out. The tree branch was black and shrunken; the ground around it was also coal black. The feeling of power was gone. I finally glanced up at Jacob; he was staring at the tree branch with such fascination I thought he might burst as well. I thought now since he was silent to at least try to explain, "My language has power, if that makes any sense to you at all. But I guess you could think of it as spells or a magic language, whichever you prefer." Jacob blinked than shook his head a few times,

"Wow." He whispered as he looked at me. I grinned. "That's amazing."

"I know." I replied,

"So are you saying that anyone who speaks your language can do _that_?" I nodded, "wow, I would love to have that kind of power," I looked up at him, warily. He must have deciphered my expression because he quickly said, "don't worry I would never use it. I promised, remember? And besides I don't even remember what you said." I quietly sighed in relief as Jacob sat down on the ground staring at the black circle of burnt floor. "Man, it must suck to have a power you can't use."

"Oh, I don't need to speak my language to be able to use my powers." I told him. He looked up at me with a confused face. I laughed, "The royals do not need to speak words to unleash their magical talents." He started to nod in understanding than abruptly stopped,

"Wait, royal?" he asked. I nodded, than realized I had yet to tell my new friends I was a princess. So does that make you like a. . . .princess?" he asked, hesitantly.

"I _am_ a princess; not like one." I corrected him. He smiled and than reached out and grabbed my hand pulling me down beside him on the soft ground. When he went to pull away, my first and only reaction was to grip hard on his warm hand; and that is exactly what I did. I held on to his hand with both of mine, moving my thumb back and forth across a small section of his skin.

"Why didn't you tell me?' he asked. I raised my eyebrows up at him, and he shrugged when he met my gaze. I laughed,

"Because I thought you already knew; I assumed Leah told everyone." I should have realized that Leah must have not told anybody about me and my brother being royal because I'm sure they would have all treated us different; they would have treated us like we were. . . royal. Jacob must have sensed my uneasiness because all he did was scoff,

"Leah doesn't tell anybody anything anymore." Jacob said pronouncing each 'any' with determined emphasis. I was thankful he did not press the 'princess' issue any further. I wanted to kiss him just for that. I started playing with each of his long dark fingers while he was talking and I kind of was not paying much attention. I glanced up at him,

"Anymore?" I said absent-mindedly. Jacob looked at me and smirked,

"Oh, you haven't heard the love triangle story yet?" he asked mockingly. He got my attention away from his hand and back to what he was saying,

"No. Tell me." I said, eagerly. Jacob grinned,

"Well, I guess since Leah has found someone else it really isn't that horrible anymore, but I –." I cut him off, impatiently.

"You can skip the introduction if you don't mind, please." Jacob had laced his warm fingers through mine and was now rubbing his thumb gently across my pearl white skin. I was worried my attention would be drawn away back to our intertwined hands and I would forget about the story.

"Okay. Sam and Leah were kind of like high school sweethearts," Jacob saw my face squint up in confusion at the mortal phrase and quickly added, "they were together; in love." I stared at him with my eyes wide in surprise and horror,

"No," I said still in shock. I tried to picture it in my head, but it was just too weird to see Leah with anyone other than my brother. And what was weirder was to try and picture Sam with anyone other than his dear Emily.

"Yea, Leah was Sam's girlfriend when he imprinted on Leah's cousin, Emily." If my eyes could open any wider after that I would be amazed. I gawked at him trying to process what he had just told me. Emily was Leah's _cousin._ That explains why they are so close, but wow. Poor Leah. Poor Emily.

"What did Sam do?" I asked,

"The only thing he could do: he broke up with Leah and went for Emily." I stared at him in horror,

"What do you mean 'the only thing he could do'?" I asked, Jacob grinned at me, staring straight into my eyes,

"He imprinted, Serena. When you imprint you can't help it. I'm sure some part of Sam did not want to hurt Leah, but he just . . . he had to." He was staring at me again and I had to look away to get away from his gaze, but of coarse I had to look at him eventually. He was gripping my hand a lot harder now, like he was afraid I was going to pull away. Jacob leaned closer,

"Serena, I think you know this already, but I. . . .I imprinted on you. I love you. I know I tried to deny it and ignore it at first, but it was getting too hard. I can't stay away from you, ever. I don't know what I'll do when you go back home today and I won't see you for _days_; not going to be able to see how your eyes turn the most stunning bright purple when you smile or when you're annoyed or angry how they turn the darkest violet, but even so I can still see specks of bright purple in your eyes even when you are mad. And it hurts me to say this, but it's going to kill me when I know you are somewhere I can't come and find you; somewhere I have no clue on how to see you. It's so strange because I have never felt this so out of control of things, this desperate and helpless. Every time I see you, my heart just starts screaming for you; commanding me to give you absolutely everything. I can't ignore it anymore. I love you. I belong to you now. I never thought I'd say that to someone . . . I love you." After he was finished I could tell he meant every word, but all I could do was swallow and,

"I could see how that could be quite hard to ignore." I whispered. Jacob started at my face; reading my expression. My heart was thumping so hard in my chest I thought it would leap out. I tried to scramble all the different issues in my head. He loved me. Jacob and I were soul mates; meant to be. But I don't think I loved him yet. Of course I had this undying attraction to him and hated it when I had to be away from him and go back home, but was that love? I think about him all the time now and I liked him a _lot_. My mind was giddy with my newly contained information. I think I let a smile escape and that's all it took for Jacob to pull me into the circle of his arms. Heat surrounded me everywhere; so much heat. I loved it. I wanted to stay in that position forever. I let out a huge sigh as I got situated on the ground between Jacob's abnormally long legs. I curled up into his chest while his arms were wrapped around my waist, pulling me into him. Silence fell over us, but it was alright. There was no need for words at the present moment. I heard Jacob chuckle as I closed my eyes. I felt content for the first time in a while.


	13. Long Walk Home

1Our hands were intertwined as we walked back the way we came. I was asking him random questions about his life and he only answered, he did not interrupt me until he was sure I was not going to blurt out another question. Jacob asked me if I had any pets and I told him I once had a griffin, he responded by asking if I had ever had a pet that was not of the mystical world. I than told him a had a leopard but my sister told me I should let him go; it was not right to keep a wild animal as a pet, it needed to be free. Jacob shook his head in silent amusement,

"Sister?" he asked, looking back at me. I nodded,

"Yes. I have three sisters." I stated as I held up three of my fingers with my free hand. I had just recently learned Jacob had two older sisters too. "None of them know I'm here; they probably think I'm hiding somewhere in the library or avoiding them. At least I hope they are." I forgot about the fact I disappeared last night, but would not have Tristan brought me straight home if people were looking for me again? I'm sure he would have, which means nobody knows I'm not at home. I sighed in relief as I came to this conclusion.

"Explain something to me again." Jacob said as we came to stop near a tree. I leaned up against it, standing up on one of the large tree roots buckling up from the ground. Jacob and I were almost eye level as I successfully balanced on the unleveled tree, waiting. "How does the whole magic thing work again?" he asked. I smiled,

"Well, my family is the only ones who can use it freely and they each have their own special talent." Jacob raised his eyebrows up slightly as a sign I should continue. "Like for example, my sister is great at controlling water and my brother is great at healing."

"What's your talent?"

"my talent?" that was actually a good question since my family had been trying to figure out for years what my special gift would be, but it seems I have yet to discover it or my dad just said my gift was the amount of exceptional power I had. I shrugged at Jacob,

"Honestly, I have no idea, my magic is random, I guess."

"Well, what can your other sisters do?" he asked, as he gave my hand a gentle tug and we started walking through the throng of trees again.

"my older sister, Danni, she can make any thing nature and green related do as she wishes, like for instance, she can make that leafless tree, over there" I told him as I pointed to a very small tree about three feet away. The tree had gray bark and looked oddly misplaced in comparison with all the other gigantic trees surrounding it. "She can make that tree grow as high as its neighbors." I said, almost proudly. Jacob smiled as if he could hear the smugness in my voice.

"Kind of like the four elements," he said.

"Yes! I've never thought of it that way before." Just the only difference was, elves could

have more than just 'four' elements. As I talked I noticed Jacob staring at me again, but I did not mind; I was getting use to it. "And my younger sister, Kaye, she can make light."

"Light?" Jacob was squinting down at me,

"Yes, light, you know the stuff that pushes the darkness away," I said sarcastically.

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Jacob replied. I could tell we were close to the street because the trees were starting to thin out. I stopped mid-step as I remembered something,

"Hey! You were supposed to show me the wolf side of you!" Jacob laughed out loud; it was a beautiful thing to hear him laugh. "I'm serious, Jake. I want to see!" I told him as he looked down at me with a huge smile on his face and shook his head,

"Alright, stay right there." He ordered. I nodded as he let go of my hand and disappeared behind the trees. He was gone for a while and when more than while had passed; I stood up on my tiptoes, as if that would make him appear. I started becoming impatient and started tapping my foot against the ground. A few minutes later, something nudged me in my back and I stumbled forward. I quickly regained my balance and turned around. I felt my eyes get wider as I looked up at the huge russet colored wolf in wonder. I reached out my hand to touch his fur. I smiled as Jacob's nose met my hand half way and bumped into it with playful enthusiasm. I laughed and quickly started petting the wolf's soft fur, lacing my fingers through the long mass. I had the old instinct from previous pets to scratch his ear; I had to stand up on my tiptoes to reach, but I did. Jacob let out a rumble of pleasure and I laughed at how extremely weird this whole situation was. Jacob's huge wolf head bumped into me and I instantly wrapped my arms around his thick neck. I smiled at how content I was; hugging an abnormal wolf. _ Come to think of it, wolf was always my favorite animal,_ I mused to myself. I sighed and let go, slowly sinking back onto my feet.

I was sitting up against a tree when Jacob rounded the corner's path in human form again. I gawked at him when I saw he had no shirt on. I felt my eyes roaming over his bare chest, not being able to help myself, and felt my cheeks grow warm. I composed myself and looked up at Jacob with my eyebrows raised. He was smirking at me almost proudly and his eyes were shining with amusement,

"Wh-where is your shirt?" I asked him, completely flustered. His smirk got bigger,

"I couldn't find it; a squirrel must have taken it." he said with a shrug. I shook my head up at him as he bent down handing his hand out to me. Before I could take it he leaned closer and snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me up. Jacob grabbed my hand at once and started towing me along back to Emily's.

"A squirrel?" I said with a snort. Jacob did not answer, but he smiled and that was good enough for me.

He stopped me right outside Emily's front door. "Jacob? What is it?" I asked, almost a little worried. He did not respond all he did was wrap his very muscular arms around my waist, pinning me up against his bare chest and buried his head into my neck. I thrilled when he took a deep breath, inhaling my skin as he did, and started kissing my neck gently. His warm breath felt so good against my skin. I closed my eyes with absolute pleasure as he moved up to my jaw. When I did not feel his warm lips anymore, I opened my eyes. Jacob was gazing down at me with obvious desire burning in his black eyes. I was utterly stunned someone could feel like that after only a few weeks of knowing someone, but by seeing Jacob's expression while staring at me like I was the only thing on the planet, I guess somebody could. He released one of his arms from my waist and cupped my face, rubbing his thumb against my cheek gently. I closed my eyes and waited to feel his lips again. He tilted my head up and his lips brushed against mine. My head spun rapidly as my knees buckled. I wondered how I did not hit the ground, but I realized Jacob still had me pressed up against him. I wrapped my arms around his neck mentally refusing to let go. He kissed me again, but harder this time. I was on my tiptoes again in a matter of seconds; my hands were tangled up in his long black hair as the kiss deepened. I came to the conclusion that who actually needed to breathe; I felt just fine with no oxygen coming into my brain. Jacob was my oxygen; that's all I needed. I clung on to him tighter; my feet were barely touching the ground. To my immediate disapproval, Jacob broke away from me. His breathing was heavy and so was mine. I buried my head into his chest and waited until my breathing slowed done. Jacob started laughing lightly; his breathing still not that even. When I went to look up at him, his hand came to press the back of my head back down. I felt him kiss my hair and than felt him release me completely. I stumbled backwards, but Jacob caught my hand before I crashed into something. He was smiling at me with adoration and I could not help but smile back.

We walked into Emily's small house hand in hand. Leah and Tristan were the only ones left besides Emily and Sam and when they turned towards us, I tried uselessly to tug my hand free from Jacob's but his grip only tightened. Emily was smiling broadly and Leah and Sam gave Jacob a satisfied look. Tristan's expression was startled and confused as his blue eyes flickered from me to Jacob. I almost choked trying to hold in my laughter. Tristan's eyes suddenly darkened as he stared Jacob down. I looked up at Jacob's calm expression but his eyes were bright and it seemed he did not care about my brother's glares.

"Serena, let's go." Tristan's voice was hard and it took all my self control to not turn and glare at him.

"But I-."

"Now." He started walking towards the door and reached out to grab my free arm. Jacob released me, but followed Tristan and I outside; Leah wasn't too far behind. Jacob stopped at the end of the sidewalk and crossed his arms with a blank expression.

"Can you let go of me now?" I hissed at Tristan who was still attempting to drag me across the street; harder now that I was fighting back.

"Tristan?" never was I happier to hear Leah's voice. Tristan stopped tugging me and looked over at her. Seeing he was preoccupied, I turned my eyes to Jacob. Jacob was smiling in triumph. "Can I talk to you for a sec," Leah said as she started walking away. My brother glared down at me but my eyes were glued on Jacob.

"Stay here." He told me, firmly.

"whatever." I replied as he let me go, gave Jacob another glare and stalked off after Leah. Once he was out of sight, I practically ran to where Jacob was standing. He immediately wrapped his arms around me, "I'll come back tomorrow. I promise." I told him.

"It's okay if you can't." he replied. I shook my head,

"I promise." Jacob was already leaning towards me so I stood up on my tiptoes and gave him a light peck on the lips. He chuckled and slowly slid his arms away from my waist, I was about to protest when,

"Serena, let's go" I suppressed a groan and turned around. I was just in time to see Leah walk back up the sidewalk. When she passed she gave me a warm smile and disappeared through the front door. I gave Jacob one more kiss – not caring if Tristan was only five feet away – and walked towards my over reactive brother. His expression was still hard but instead of glaring at Jacob now he was glaring at me. _Geez, that talk did some good,_ I thought sarcastically as I met me brother's gaze. Oh boy, this was going to be a long walk home.


	14. Author's Note

hey guys, i'm sorry i'v e been taking so long to update; end of the school year is pretty busy. and also i've had another story stuck in my head, so i've been trying to get that out before i wrote another chapter for Meeting Jacob Well, i guess this pretty much means i have a new story up and i hope you guys like it.  
that doesn't mean i'm quitting this one though. don't worry. i'll have the next chapters up probably a little after summer starts. sorry. very, very, very busy.  
thank you for the reviews! 


	15. Bonding Time With Claire

* * *

Well this was as awkward as any walk through the woods was ever going to get. I kept my mouth shut and so did my brother, but I could tell from his posture and the fact that his eyes remained in deadly slits that the protective older brother speech was soon to come. And the fact that I knew this is what made it . . . awkward. I saw Tristan take a deep breath from beside me and held _my_ breath.

"Serena, what was that?" I decided right than and there that playing utterly, entirely, and positively dumb would be my best choice at that moment,

"What was what?"

"Don't play the 'dumb' card with me, Serena. Tell me what is going on with you . . . and. . . ."

"I like him." I blurted out before I could make sense of what I was doing. Tristan's gaze finally landed on me,

"You can't be serious." He scoffed. I stopped walking,

"I am very serious." I could tell Tristan was losing his control and his face had formed into a disapproving mask. He started fidgeting where he stood and looked like he was going to burst.

"Serena, this is insane . . . I don't like him . . . and . . . . For goodness sake's, Serena, he's human!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I glared up at him,

"Well, the last time I checked, Leah was under the same category!" I hissed as I started to walk away.

"My situation is completely different than yours and you know that!" he said, walking after me,

"How? How is it different, Tristan? Please tell me because I don't seem to know!"

"She imprinted! Leah and I don't have a choice!" I whirled around to face him and looked him straight in the eye,

"_She_ doesn't have a choice, but you do." Tristan was slightly taken aback because he stopped short,

"I don't want a choice. I love her." Tristan's expression grew soft. I sighed,

"I know." We stayed in silence after that until I finally said, "you haven't told me what is different." I told him as I turned away,

"What do you mean? I just told you." Tristan's voice was becoming hard again as he came to walk beside me,

"No, Tristan, you told me the similarities of our situations." Tristan stopped short,

"What? How-?" as soon as realization hit Tristan, his eyes were almost coming out of their sockets. His blue eyes turned pale, "you mean . . . to tell . . . he. . . . imprinted?" my brother turned to me, looking frantic, "you're kidding me, right? I mean, you aren't serious?"

"Of course I'm serious. If it helps for you not to think I'm crazy, he told me himself." I said lightly, smiling. Tristan's next question caught me way off guard,

"Do you love him?"

"What?"

"Do you love him?" his face was serious and hard. I stared blankly up at him, thinking. I hadn't been able to answer that question earlier and I still couldn't answer it. I honestly didn't know.

"Not yet." I told him. I could see the wheels spinning behind Tristan's sparkling blue eyes.

"Maybe it would be best if you did not see him anymore," Tristan looked hopefully at me; his expression was pleading with me to not argue with him this _one time._ Yeah right.

"No. I know what you are trying to do. Tristan, I like him. I mean, I _really really_ like him. I'm too far in now to go back." And that was true. What Tristan was asking had gotten impossible; I mean, maybe if he said this earlier, but still, I honestly doubt I would have listened either way. I had gotten use to Jacob being in my life, I couldn't just _stop_ _seeing him_. No. I wouldn't.

"Serena, would you be reas-."

"No, you can't stop someone when they have already started falling." And with that I stormed off ahead of him and he did not bother to catch up.

"Claire! That hurt!" I screamed at her as I felt heat hit the tip of my ear,

"Sorry," she said sheepishly as she 'straightened' another piece of my hair. I snuck away early this morning and went straight to Claire's; she was so excited to see me because apparently I had arrived right on time since Quil had just called and said they were taking us to something called a fair. Claire immediately dragged me off to her room and started throwing clothes everywhere to find something for me to wear. Finally, she dressed me in an extremely short, light blue skirt, and she said it was a denim skirt. I also had a dark blue shirt on which Claire called a polo. We came to notice that Claire and I were the same size so mostly everything of hers fit me too, including shoes. I had on a pair of white flip flops to go with my ensemble. Claire was basically dressed in the same fashion: denim skirt, flip flops, straightened hair, except for the shirt. It was this huge, dark orange shirt with writing on it that covered the skirt entirely and I could only guess where she got it. I had given her a meaningful look which she responded,

"So what I'm obsessed with my boyfriend . . . kill me." she then gave me a meaningful look too than said, "now, let's do something with that hair." And that is how I ended up on a stool in her bathroom as she literally burnt my curls away. A good ten minutes later, my hair was a brown waterfall, cascading down to my waist.

"I'm starving." I said, abruptly as I stared at my hair in the mirror. Claire appeared beside me and started applying mascara,

"Me too." She replied after she was done, she aimed for my face with the mascara in hand but I quickly stopped her,

"I'm good for today. No make up." Claire simply shrugged,

"That's probably for the best. You're gorgeous enough as it is; with make up on I'd probably become invisible standing next to you." She joked as she and I walked out of the bathroom. From that statement I took a good look at Claire, she wasn't ugly and at first glance you might think her pretty with her plain features, but as I looked at her she wasn't just pretty, she was beautiful too, even though she didn't know it. Her skin tone was light brown. Her dark blond hair could easily be called golden and her brown eyes were kind and thoughtful. I smiled at my friend,

"You're right; I wouldn't want to direct Quil's attention from you." I replied, sarcastically. Claire laughed,

"Let's walk down to the gas station and buy some junk food. I'm starving!" She said happily as she ran towards the kitchen counter to grab her purse. I almost retched when I walked through the glass door of the shop, already hating the bell located at the top of the door. The gas station was small and extremely dirty looking; way too dirty for my taste at least. The stench was horrible too. I made a face of disgust as Claire led me down an aisle filled with food or preferably how Claire put it 'junk food'. The name fit, _perfectly._ I glanced at Claire, who already had three of the bags in her arms, to see if she was just as disgusted as I was, but it only looked like she was almost content, like there was nothing wrong. I almost snorted.

"Are you going to get anything?" Claire asked.

"No. I think I'm good." Claire gave me a skeptical look than shrugged,

"Suit yourself." Obnoxious laughter came through the gas station door and the bell dinged; Claire was already at the end of the aisle making her way towards the filthy counter. . . .with the filthy looking man behind it. _Goodness! Was everything in this place dirty?_ It seemed to be. I had started to follow Claire when I heard somebody whistle. I hurried up the aisle afraid I might get attacked from some whistling dirty monster, when I realized I was walking toward the whistling and not away from it.

"Hey, baby." Some boy was standing only a few feet away from Claire. Three other boys stood clustered around him; all of them looking too skinny and straggly. Their clothes was also way too big for them from the looks of it, one was holding his pants up. Claire shot daggers at the boy closest.

"Leave me alone." Claire said through gritted teeth as she turned her attention to the guy behind the counter. The boy grinned and looked Claire up and down, making it seem he was a little boy buying a new toy.

"Come on, baby. Don't be like that. Maybe we can talk this over at my place. Come one let's go for a ride."

"Bite me." Claire paid the guy behind the counter whose attention had settled on the boy too. His friends chuckled and moved toward the aisle I was standing in front of; the first boy coming my way had dark brown hair and a really skinny face with dark eyes, he stopped automatically when he saw me. Than I really creepy smile came across his mouth making my skin feel like bugs were crawling over it. He turned his head a little,

"Hey, Rick. Come see what I found." The boy told the one who still looked like he was harassing Claire, but from the look on his face, failing deeply. Claire's head jerked towards me,

"Serena, come on. Let's go." She said, hastily as she made her way towards me. The one called Rick grabbed her arm and Claire just as quickly pulled it out of his grasp. "Touch me again and see what happens." She threatened. Rick smirked, looking as if he liked the suggestion, he went to reach again, but Claire's small fist was faster.

"Hey!" the guy behind the counter yelled, slightly panicked their might be a fight in the shop. It happened so fast I thought I'd missed something. Blood spurted from Rick's nose as Claire pulled back her fist and quickly reached across the space and grabbed my arm, pulling me towards the door. Rick was cursing with pain and annoyance as his friends and the guy behind the counter rushed towards him. Claire and I ran out the door and all the way back to her house; I could see the sunset's glow from between the trees as we made our way up the porch. Once we were inside, we both started laughing.

"Oh . . . my . . . goodness . . . I. . . . can't believe . . . you. . did that!" I screeched at Claire. Claire was shaking from shock and hysteria and from the laughter that was practically cascading out of our mouths.

"Me neither!" we were both on the wooden floor now, our bodies not far from the front door. Our laughter had died but we were still grinning wildly.

"Wait till I tell Quil."

"No!" Claire's brown eyes widened.

"What? Why not?"

"If you haven't noticed by now, Quil is a tad bit overprotective. I think the boy learned his lesson. I already feel guilty for probably giving him a broken nose. Let's not aim for a broken body."

"Don't you think your being a little overdramatic?" Claire was shaking her head.

"I told Quil once about a guy who wolf-whistled at me and let's just say his parents put a restraining order against Quil _and_me than moved away." I was staring at her with wide eyes and was about to start laughing again when Claire's phone buzzed from next to her. "Hello. Oh hey . . . yea . . . nah, me and Serena just had our fill of food actually. . . .Okay, so. .an hour then . . . . great. . bye, love you." She hung up and threw the phone over on the couch. "Quil and Jake will be here in an hour. Gosh, what are we going to do in an hour?" I casually shrugged as my heart fluttered at the mention of Jacob's name. Jacob was coming to get me in an hour; I almost felt giddy. I slowly got up and walked towards the full length mirror that was on a slither of wall between the curb and a door.

"I don't know about you, but I'm going to admire my hair for while." I teased as I ran my fingers through my long mahogany hair. Claire laughed than rolled to her feet and brought the grocery bags into the kitchen area. We both started towards the couch at the same time. Claire grabbed the 'remote' for the so called 'TV' and turned it on. I buried myself as much as possible in the couch.

The honking of the horn startled me as I was slowly closing my eyes for at least a small nap. I turned to Claire who was surprisingly glaring at her front door.

"They have got to be kidding me." Claire almost growled as the car honked again. I didn't understand why she was so upset. She must have seen my confused face because she added, "In my world, when a guy comes to pick up a girl on a date or just to pick up his _girlfriend_they are suppose to come to the door." She said through clenched teeth as she glared at the wooden door. Claire sat on the couch with her arms crossed and well I did the same. Finally, someone started banging on the door. Claire got up with a smirk and walked over to open the door. Embry stood in the doorway looking annoyed,

"Did you not hear me honking?" Embry practically screamed at us. Claire gave Embry a look that would have made most people cower.

"Yes," Claire stated. Embry gave her an incredulous look before pushing her out the door with a huff than he turned to me in the same swift motion and grabbed my arm,

"Well than why did you not come? We're in a hurry." He said as he pushed us towards the car. Oh, no. Another car ride was not what I wanted. My stomach started feeling nauseous and that was never good. I planted my feet to the sidewalk and came to an abrupt stop.

"Where's Quil?" Claire asked with obvious disappointment as she stopped beside me,

"Jake and Quil are meeting us at the fair. No worries." Embry said as he patted Claire on the shoulder.

"Why?"

"Because Sam had them go on patrol longer than necessary; something about there are more scents than expected." I felt Claire tense, Embry felt it too,

"Don't worry, Claire-Bear, you have a whole pack of werewolves looking after you. Nothing is gunna come even close to sucking your blood." Embry said with a grin. Claire looked sick,

"Thanks, Embry." She said sarcastically. Embry finally noticed that none of us were moving towards the car,

"Come _on_, we have to go; I don't want to wait in line all night just to get in." he grumbled as he started pushing Claire and I again; I refused to move,

"Can we walk?" I asked, weakly. Embry turned towards me and laughed,

"_You _can walk, but I'm driving." Embry stated; Claire looked at him, astounded,

"Embry! She can't walk! Not with those _things_ out there!" Claire screamed at him.

"I doubt anything would harm her, Claire. She can take care of herself." Embry stated, smugly. I almost laughed at his true response.

"What are you saying, Embry? That I can't take care of myself?" Claire asked him, haughtily.

"No. I'm saying that I would never let you walk alone because I know you're scared and Serena isn't." Embry defended himself. Claire gave him a glare than looked at me and asked,

"Serena, honey, are you okay?" I swallowed and shook my head,

"I don't like cars." I said. Embry started laughing again, probably remembering my first car ride.

"Embry! That's not funny." Claire glared at him, "it's really not that bad, Serena. It's sort of fun." She said, trying to reassure me.

"Yea, Serena. You just have to get use to it." Embry told me. I looked at the car and imagined riding in it; my stomach was feeling nauseous again. I shook my head,

"No. I think if I go any closer to it, I might retch." I said, feeling sick with the thought. Embry groaned.

"How do you expect us to get there than, Serena?" he asked.

"Don't make her feel bad, Embry." Claire told him. Embry glared at her,

"I'm not making her feel bad. Right, Serena? I'm just figuring out what to do now." Their bickering was making my head spin. Embry looked thoughtful for a minute than turned to me, can you at least try?" he asked,

"Unless you want puke in your car, I suggest that I don't try." I stated. Embry looked thoughtful for a few minutes and so did Claire as she rubbed my arm, soothingly. Embry's face suddenly lit up; his face turning mischievous. Claire noticed it too,

"What's up, Embry?"

"What do you guys think about riding wolf-style?" he asked. Claire and I exchanged a glance than looked at Embry with the same wary and uneasy expression,

"Please tell me I'm not thinking what you're thinking." Claire begged. Embry laughed,

"Come on, it won't be bad. We'll get there pretty quick and the leeches won't come near us because I apparently stink." He said, gleefully. Claire looked hesitant and I'm sure I looked the same,

"Better than a car." I stated as I looked at Claire. Her face was grim,

"Fine, but I swear to God, Embry, if you do something funny-." Embry cut her off,

"I know. I know. You'll tell Quil." He grinned as he started walking towards the woods beckoning for us to follow.

**I finally updated! Sorry it took so long. Writer's block. I'm open for suggestions if anyone has ideas on what should happen next. I have my plot but i just don't know what to put in between which causes my continuous writer's block. Ugh. Review, please!!**


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